lifters on a ls3

[trans665]

is it o.k. to keep the stock lifters???
i just payed for my cam,and is going to buy a spring kit with retainers next week.
but i dont know if i have to replace the lifters??
the cam i just payed for is a comp 220/228 .581/.588 LSA 114

thank you for any input.

[itguy]

I don't think it's necessary but if you want to upgrade the LS7 lifters can be had for $140.

[Avenging Orange]

Should be no reason to replace the lifters. Make sure to get hardened pushrods, tho.

[sycraft]

Heads have to come off anyway, so why not upgrade the lifters while you are there. Piece of mind.

[SSDan]

Originally Posted by sycraft

Heads have to come off anyway, so why not upgrade the lifters while you are there. Piece of mind.

The nice thing about the LS3 is that the heads don't need to come off for the cam swap. I agree with leaving the lifters and rocker arms alone but by all means do use dual springs and hardened push rods.

[trans665]

cool, thanks guys...i was a little on the fence about it anyhow.
i already have the TSP chromly push rods

FYI, heads dont have to come out for a cam swap.. if you where replacing the valves out, i can understand taking off the head.

[Rabamaro]

Originally Posted by SSDan

The nice thing about the LS3 is that the heads don't need to come off for the cam swap. I agree with leaving the lifters and rocker arms alone but by all means do use dual springs and hardened push rods.

+1

[sycraft]

My bad, forgot about that. I had to on my Silverado that had AFM..

[Russell James]

I'd say depends on the miles. Any reasonably low miles on them and I'd not bother with buying new lifters. The LS3 and LS7 are the same lifter. If there are noisy LS3 lifters, it's most often not the lifters. Oil pump aerating the oil, pick up tube o ring, crap in the lifters, valve stem tips wore down.... take a close look at the valve stem tips while the rockers are off.

Some better upgrades would be a blueprinted oil pump, make sure the cam is 3 bolt, trunion kit for the rockers, Katech C5-R timing chain, LS2 style damper, magnetic drain plug... make all that stuff bulletproof while it's apart, especially the oil pump. More than one OE pump has crapped out right after a cam swap. Any little debris floating around can jam up the relief valve. The pump and relief valve are before the filter in the oil flow. Keep all clean clean clean while working on the motor guts.

Make sure the timing gears match the cam. Comp like to put in the fine print that you should use their timing gears with their one bolt cams. It really should be in bold big shouting warnings, cause the wrong cam gears on a Comp cam can wipe out the motor when it shears the pin. A much safer approach is just stick with the 3 bolt cams.

[trans665]

Originally Posted by Russell James

I'd say depends on the miles. Any reasonably low miles on them and I'd not bother with buying new lifters. The LS3 and LS7 are the same lifter. If there are noisy LS3 lifters, it's most often not the lifters. Oil pump aerating the oil, pick up tube o ring, crap in the lifters, valve stem tips wore down.... take a close look at the valve stem tips while the rockers are off.

Some better upgrades would be a blueprinted oil pump, make sure the cam is 3 bolt, trunion kit for the rockers, Katech C5-R timing chain, LS2 style damper, magnetic drain plug... make all that stuff bulletproof while it's apart, especially the oil pump. More than one OE pump has crapped out right after a cam swap. Any little debris floating around can jam up the relief valve. The pump and relief valve are before the filter in the oil flow. Keep all clean clean clean while working on the motor guts.

Make sure the timing gears match the cam. Comp like to put in the fine print that you should use their timing gears with their one bolt cams. It really should be in bold big shouting warnings, cause the wrong cam gears on a Comp cam can wipe out the motor when it shears the pin. A much safer approach is just stick with the 3 bolt cams.

thanks man, i already got the comp cam double timing chain, and the melling high flow oil pump, ive heard about the trunons so thats why im looking at the 1.8 rockers. also the cam is a single bolt that i just bought.

[Bo White]

I did a cam swap on my Z28 when it had 100k miles on it, it was in such good shape I even reused the timing set. It was a mild cam with beehives swapped out for better ones and hardened pushrods. Mileage does play a part but if taken great care of its not as much an issue.

[BLACK10]

i beileve the LS3 and LS7 lifters are the same part number. the LS3 lifters are very stout. no need to swap them out!

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by trans665

thanks man, i already got the comp cam double timing chain, and the melling high flow oil pump, ive heard about the trunons so thats why im looking at the 1.8 rockers. also the cam is a single bolt that i just bought.

i would say doing a 3 bolt cam is more important than a oil pump swap and rocker upgrades. a lot of people run stock oil pump and don't mess with rocker upgrades, but most shops do 3 bolt cam swaps.

[litle88]

Please stay away from the 1.8's if the cam ramp rates are not for it. If its for a 1.7 ratio leave it alone. No need for 1.8's if your looking to get more lift then get a bigger cam IMHO.

How many miles are on your lifters? As mentioned above ls3/7 same thing.

Melling and C5r t/c are excellent choices and also get rid of the tensioner and use the Ls2 dampner it's only like 29? Bux
BUT you do not need to get a dbl roller chain then you have to worry about clearancing the timing cover to use one. That's too sloppy for my taste when a single c5r is just as strong. Remember at your power level the t/c won't break it but harmonics will do it too. If you got the money investing on a good pulley in the stock,10% or 25% under drive is good. I've seen the Ls3 crank pulleys fail epicly lol. Just my .2

[trans665]

50,000 miles on a 2010 2ss/rs

what is a C5r t/c, and where can i find them??

yea i thought how much of a hassal the 1.8 are going to be with the down time of getting the right pushrod,... so no 1.8 rockers and using the TSP 7.400..

the double chain i cant use after all, it is for a three bolt, and mine is a single.. so i will be selling that.

[Dan2510]

http://store.katechengines.com/c5-r-...chain-p30.aspx

[Russell James]

The one bolt cam you have will be fine, if you make sure the timing gears you are using are the right ones for that cam.

Some of Comp Cams 1 bolts require their Comp Cams timing gears. So I'd call Comp and ask them specifically about your part number which timing gear set must be used. If it's one that requires their gear set, and the OE gear set is used, the pin can bottom out in the cam gear and it will shear off after some miles. So make sure the cam matches the cam gears and the chain you pick matches the cam gears. I think the C5R chain Katech sells matches the original OE gears, but ask them.

The 1 bolts I've seen wipe out the motors were installed with OE gears where the pin hole is shorter than Comp's pin. The cam gear bolt then doesn't put good pressure holding the gear on cause the pin is bottomed out.

With the right cam gear for that cam, red loctite, and tq'd right, the 1 bolt cam will be fine if you want to use it.

Katech knows a ton about LS motor valvetrains, they Spintron develop a lot of the GM racing stuff. If you call them about their C5R chain, they could probably answer just about anything else on the valve train.

Lifters are a couple hundred bucks. GMPP Part # 12499225 is a pack of 16 LS2/LS3/LS7 lifters.
At 50k, the old one could still be fine if the weren't noisy, show no wear, frequent oil changes... or the new ones would be cheap insurance.

[trans665]

shit i might just put this cam on ebay and opt for a three bolt cam, sounds like a lot can go wrong with the single bolt.

[camslambam]

Why such a small cam?

[trans665]

frist off it was a deal at 150.00 shipped ,
second, i wanted to do a cam build and been buying stuff here and there for the swap(high flow pump,double timing chain,tsp pushrods) i saw this for sell at that price here on the for sale section, and i jumped at it.
i want to push a 150 shot with a good nitrous cam, and i thought this was it, guess not.. seems like it will be more hassal then a three bolt.:(

[litle88]

Good man!
You my friend are making choices you won't regret,
3 bolt cams are better and you can also get the ARP cam bolts and use red locktite. Will you be doing this yourself?

You already have the link for the chain

You already have the melling h/v oil pump

Before getting pushrods always check for correct size.

50k miles on the lifters and wanting to spray? I would pull the heads and get new ones and use ARP head BOLTS not studs (you can use them OVER And OVER again not like GM's only once only use)

All you'll need are a timing cover gasket,water pump gaskets 2, new crank bolt either GM or ARP ( you can use that ARP over and over too for 25 bux) GM Ls3 or Ls9 head gaskets.
Water pump gaskets 2 of them

Do you have headers? I hope so lol

I'm forgetting something sorry I'm at work.

[litle88]

Do it once and do it right! Otherwise you'll be spending twice or worse!

While your in there always upgrade my friend.