You have an LT1....big woop if you have to replace lifters again.....at least you don't have to pull the heads. It's trivial to do a lifter swap on an LT1.....so YES it is worth saving $200, particularly when the replacement part, the LS7 lifter, is perfectly fine if the rest of the motor and valvetrain is setup properly and the lash is set correctly.

 

LS7 lifters are for mild builds.... They have excessive amounts of plunger travel and are susceptible for pumping up at higher rpm with fairly aggressive cams. Not something I would put in a engine that I want to rev to 7k +. Sure the LS7 engine ran out to 7k, but it had titanium valves... I would spend a little extra and run a Morel drop in or better yet a Johnson 2110. Jm2c

 

I guess your time isn't worth diddly, then.

Intake removal - 1 hr total if I am lollygagging. Then I spend at least an hour getting all the mating surfaces clean. Gaskets are what... $30? Takes seconds to install the lifters. Set the intake back down in the RTV. Then the car has to be down for 24 hours so the RTV can cure. Concurrently, set the lash. Fire it up, check the lash, and motor on. The car is down for at least 24 hours. Now one of the LS lifters ***** the bed - so double everything. Or get the correct part for $200 more and stand a 99.999% chance that everything will be peachy.

For me, its not worth it. My time is too valuable and I can't do without the car because its my daily driver.

Run the LS lifters if you want - I really dgaf. Just sharing the facts.

 

Your argument is invalid because you're ASSUMING they fail and you have to replace them. It's the same thing with running a junkyard motor. Is getting a junkyard 5.3 worth the risk to save $4000? Way more labor in swapping a motor if the JY motor fails, and PLENTY of people do it without issue. The increased probability of having a failure due to LS7 lifters in an LT1 is so small that yes, I think it is worth the "risk". Some people have had failures, sure, and some people had failures on stock LT1 lifters too. Some people have had timing chains break too. You aren't suddenly guaranteeing a failure because you went to LS7 lifters. But you're right, YMMV, welcome to the internet.

 

This is all great right up until you realize its not a JY SBE LSX motor and its full of expensive parts that are now ruined cause one cheaped out on putting sub par lifters in.

If you can swing it, always go for the better part. Took me some time to learn that lesson

 

What are you talking about???? My analogy specifically says its a JY motor. Are you saying if you already have a fully built LT1? If so, you're not likely to ask the question anyways. The OP has a "100k+ mile stock LT1 lifters"....its not a high $$$ motor.

 

If you're buying new lifters, the assumption is that they will perform as good as the OEM units. If you're buying a junkyard LS, you better know damn well that it could pop the instant you put fuel into the cylinders and turn the key. Totally different scenarios, bud - and its an irrelevant comparison. You are assuming the risk of the junkyard LS from the get-go. I don't think most installed LS lifters thinking there was a risk involved. Well, at least I didn't, because everyone seemed to be running them. Lesson learned.

Anyone buying new lifters - LS or LT - will expect them to perform as the original LT lifters GM provided when the engine was assembled at the factory. If you go with the LSx lifters, you're buying a lifter that was not designed for, nor ever intended to be run in a gen2 LT engine. Period. It's an off-label use and carries some risk - as evidenced by the many issues from users on this forum and others. The OP was looking to replace OEM LT lifters with LS. I merely pointed out that while LS lifters are cheaper by a country mile, they're not the correct, factory-specified lifter for an LT, and the LT lifters are still available from GM. There are also other LT specific lifters available from other manufacturers, as others have pointed out.

If you have a lifter crap out, consider yourself lucky if all you have to do is replace the bad lifter. In my case, it wiped the cam, so I was out another $350 for a custom billet cam, as well as the correct GM lifters, gaskets, cam bearings, and my time pulling the engine out to do a cam swap since you can't pull the cam in a b-body without either pulling the condenser out of the core support, or pulling the engine out.. I don't care if it's an LT engine with 100k on it. Pulling an engine to replace a cam that was damaged from a bad lifter is a pain in the *** and if I have to spend an additional $200 to get the peace of mind of using the correct part from the get-go, guess which way I am going to go, and guess which way I am going to encourage others to go?

I don't know why this seems to make you so angry.

 

I had the stock L31 roller lifters lockup in my 40K mile GM Goodwrench L31 when used with a mild cam as well. I swapped to LS7 lifters and lost yet another 2 lifters and another cam. The culprit was VALVE FLOAT in my case. I swapped the cam yet again, another set of LS7 lifters and put double valve springs on it this time around. I have had numerous sets of LS7 lifters in other 350 roller cam engines and they work just fine.

 

Exactly my point.....you're paying for peace of mind.....not for a better product. Thanks for confirming.

 

Drama queen!

 

I would buy GM lifters over most aftermarket. You would think a manufacturer that has built lifters since the creation of OHV would have them fairly decent quality now days. Everyone else copies a GM design anyway. LS7 lifters for milder stuff or Caddy race lifters for hotter setups. With a 1.7 rocker I am running .580" lift in my L31 and somewhere close to 340 lbs open spring pressure. It pulls to the 6,200 rpm fuel kill I use to keep the stock bottem end together.

 

lol GM and quality in the same sentence.

LS7 are mass produced products made in Mexico, quality is a after thought.

 

Im in complete agreement with you. I should have quoted the rediculous post above you when I replied. It was in reference to "peace of mind".

 

No, its actually opposite of your point, but you knew that already. Using the correct, factory specified part for the engine automatically makes it a "better product" for the intended use. Otherwise, we're back to the finely machined tree branch I mentioned earlier.

Huh... peace of mind definitely has a value in my book. I generally don't like to do expensive repairs more than once.

Ok champ. You win the internet today. You really showed me.


Ever hear the analogy about wrestling with a pig? We're done here.

 

 

 

I had one that collapsed, and another was starting to go when I pulled them all. 224/230, 563/.544 @ 112, took out the cam. Those were Skip White LSx

 

Yeah because GM is in the business of wanting to warranty motors when all their LS7 lifters blow up right???

​​​​​​​All makes sense now, you had a problem so everyone must have a problem. Nice. At least its cake to pull them in that old LT1

 

LS7 factory valve train components in a reliability argument is actually pretty comical. Even though the lifter wasn’t the turd in the bread with GM’s **** sandwich they served people from the factory.

I wonder how many LS7 owners are still running LS7 lifters after they got their valve guides fixed? I bet they said “**** I don’t want to ever deal with that again”. So they bought extra insurance with even better lifters. Maybe? Probably?

 

Sure.

My setup, basic 383 with stock heads, springs are ~400lb open and ~155lb closed.
Trashed the wheels on two or three LS7 lifters, which then took out my cam etc etc.

Friend's motor, 385 setup, not sure what his spring rates where, but aggressive cam. Could not get LS7 lifters to quiet down. They would rattle like a cold diesel all the time, regardless of how much preload I put on the rockers. I think I varied from 1/4 to a full turn on rockers with no affect on noise levels. We stuck link bars from Morel I believe in and with a 1/4 turn preload, quiet as a mouse.

Again, apparently having pricey motors means one should not have LS7 lifters or something according to this thread? IDK when the JY SBE LSX mindset crept into LTX land.