Ive seen excessive thrust plate wear on quite a few engines stock and otherwise and some ive seen zero. That part seems to be luck of the draw. When a lobe is wiped out or a lifter flattened, can you say exactly what caused it? Fore and aft thrust could. Evidence of wear on both sides of the plate clearly show there is movement. Its not the ham in the cam and gear sandwhich. Reducing the friction is a good thing, and at $85 and up the N Motion for example are very inexpensive, use the german IWIS N chain, and are super high quality.
As far as the dampener goes, i too only use them when the block has provisions.
I am not going to recommend a part i wouldnt use myself, am using, or plan on using. I would rather give the customer options and let them decide. That is the entire reason we even have the rpmspeed sets. So we can have an option for any budget.

Huh?

My first head/cam ls1 had rollmaster double roller... I abused that car, street and 1/4 mile, no issues whatsoever. 50,000 miles worth. I returned it to standard before selling the car, put stock cam in, left the rollmaster chain in it, it was still perfect.

My current cam-only ls1 in my 4th gen also running the same rollmaster red series double roller. No issues!

What might determine which blocks are pre-drilled for a dampener?

I don't want to open up my engine yet as I'm trying to complete another project, and I'm easily distracted by shiny objects, so I'm trying to concentrate...

The LS6 blocks are drilled. Not sure of your year. Early blocks also seem to have been drilled as the timing chain damper was originally part of the LS1 design but the bean counters eliminated it. I saw one very early LS1 in a 97 Corvette that had the original damper design. Very few produced with that installed. Blocks in the late 90's, from what I have seen, don't seem to have the holes.

So, a late '03 LQ4 is not likely to have pre drilled holes?

Looks like its the Trick Flow setup for me then.

thanks...

Very easy to drill & tap the holes. Just did mine (06 LQ9) the other day for the RDE damper. Not quite the same as stock so I guess it's just as well that my block wasn't machined.

What's the issue with double roller chain sets?

1. Grinding
2. Spacing
3. The alum spacers

Youve gotta grind with nearly any oil pump or find bolts etc.
The spacing of the oil pump is off then making the spacing of the balancer off as well. You say that doesnt matter, then try using an alum water pump gasket on a 97/98 og engine and youll see whats wrong.
The spacer goes between the pump and the block of course, yet has no way to seal the ports. It relies on the alum (normally) being crushed between the two. Yet another spot for the pump to have an issue...wait make that 2 spots. Also most timing chain tensioners wont cover the extra width. This isnt a gen0 SBC. It doesnt need a double roller for security, safety, or peace of mind. Why do you think the c5r amd IRL are singles?