what do i need to convert carbed flat tappet motor to.....

  • Sponsors (?)


It would probably be cheaper to buy a late model shortblock. Otherwise, you can get a hydraulic roller conversion kit from crane or comp cams. If you do that, you are stuck running their special, and expensive, small base circle retro-fit roller cams. I had the comp cams set up about 10 years ago when it first came out. It was over a grand back then for cam,springs,conversion kit,roller lifters,pushrods....lots o dough!
 
what year is the block he has. i used a motor out of my old 90 truck and used that for my baseline. the block was already roller ready with the drilled and tapped holes in the lifter valley. all i needed was a roller cam, lifters,pushrods and the spider bars from the junkyard or jegs and it would be a roller cammed engine. if the block has 2 holes in the lifter valley floor that are threaded already then that block is roller ready and he won't need a small base circle cam. this is the way i understand it. otherwise everything else just bolts on just fine.
 
Its the ability to drive your hydrolic roller motor and not have to adjust the valvetrain all the time. I know so many people who have well over 100,000 on their 5.0's with stock rockers, lifters, and they have never had the valve lash set besides factory.
A roller motor is a much better setup for longer life and less maintenance.
 
no if it is roller ready that is all he needs. a roller ready block has 2 holes that are threaded for the bolts that hold down the spider bars in the bottom of the lifter valley.

if the block does not have the threaded holes then the block is not roller ready.

do you know what vehicle the block came out of.
 
I'm pretty sure they didn't have a lightning back then. Not till the early 90's...I think. But you're right about it probably not being a roller. The trucks didn't get the fancy injection until 87 or 88 I think.
 
some trucks got the efi in 85 but i think they were california trucks. the lightning came out in 93. you can get flat tappet cams everywhere like oreily's and summit.
 
dastang2 said:
some trucks got the efi in 85 but i think they were california trucks. the lightning came out in 93. you can get flat tappet cams everywhere like oreily's and summit.

You can hydraulic roller cams in any grind you want and they are just as easy to find. They cost a little more but they also last at least twice as long.