Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I’ve used up my supply of SBF HFT lifters, so I need to order another set for a mild flat tappet build.

In the past I’ve used a million sets of the basic sealed power/Mellings lifters on sbc’s and sbf’s, and never had a single problem, but that has been years ago. Now, reading through customer reviews on stock replacement style lifters, it looks like the quality has seriously diminished in the last few years.

What is the recommended lifter now? Or are they all pretty much the same (as so many replacement parts are now)? Prices are all over the place.

Mild 351w build, .472” lift w/1.7 rockers single pattern cam , springs will be 100-110 seat/250-260@.500”. Under 5500 rpm application.

I think as long as they are genuine Sealed Power parts and not knock offs/ fake stuff you'll be fine.

I like the American made quality, Eaton lifters.

frnkeore wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:20 pm I like the American made quality, Eaton lifters.

Eaton's hydraulic flat tappet lifters are made in Mexico now.

https://www.aftermarketnews.com/eaton-p ... morestana/

Looks like I'm about 15 years, behind times

Still, the SFT lifters that I got a few months ago, look very good and are much lighter than all the others that I found.

What lifters are still made here? Sad times for manufacturing in the USA.

Hylift Johnson lifters are made in the USA.

We only sell American made products, but our lifters aren't going to be as cheap as the mexican lifters.

Is Made in America better or just more expensive these days?

Based on our current generation and customer service I would not trust much of anything to American entitlement.

GARY C wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:32 am Is Made in America better or just more expensive these days?

Based on our current generation and customer service I would not trust much of anything to American entitlement.

Fair question. When Eaton and another lifter company moved the lifter production to Mexico, we started to have a bunch of failures. Switched to the Johnson lifters, and the issues went away. We would find Mexican made lifters with grinding steps on the lifter face. Lifters that didn't have the oiling hole on the side, drilled all the way through. There was no quality control. I sell hundreds of USA made lifters, every year, and we average about one flat tappet failure a year.

A quick search for Johnson lifters showed them to be around $400 for hydraulic flat tappets. Is that right???

travis wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:54 am A quick search for Johnson lifters showed them to be around $400 for hydraulic flat tappets. Is that right???

No.
Look up Hylift Johnson lifters. http://toplineauto.com/wp-content/uploa ... atalog.pdf

The "Johnson Lifter" company was started by a guy who worked for Hylift Johnson, and went on his own. There's a lot more to that story, but that's for another day.

Mike,

On that PDF is the lifter height measured at the push rod seat?

I have one set left of the Johnson lifters (from 2015) that we used in all of our builds.