buick 455 valve lifters

buick 455 hydraulic lifters, buick specific?? or chevy ok?

 

Not trying to stir the pot here, but I can remember Jim Bell claim the was a slight difference a few thousands difference in the diameter of other GM lifters vs Buick and you would lose a little oil pressure. The other lifters were supposed to be a wee bit smaller? o No:


Bob H.

 

I remember reading confirmation here on the board that the GM lifter diameters in question were all 0.842" nominal, same as Buick...but there have been cases where some measured on the low side. I don't remember more detail than that.

Devon

 

I believe the oil bands are in different positions also. I know that holds true with the solids. I have a few sets of new hydraulic Chevy and Buick lifters, I'll compare them when I get back to the shop. You are talking about flat tappet lifters I presume.

Larry

 

So I compared them and the oil bands are in the same location on the hydraulics. The Buick pushrod cup (seat) height is .060 higher in the body than the Chevy. The O.D. is the same and the body height is the same. The Buick lifters I checked are Delphi and the Chevys are the comp cams #812. Both of these have the hardend foot on the bottom.

Larry

 

I grabbed a used Buick lifter I removed from a core 455 engine, and an unused but very old Chevy lifter, and took a couple of photos.



And



I also discovered that my 0--1 mic has gone missing. A digital caliper with .0005 resolution shows the unused Chevy lifter at .8415, while the used Buick lifter was .841.

Seems to me that snap-ring groove location means little, as would pushrod seat height--if you're willing to order pushrods to make up the difference. As long as the lifter has some preload--enough to make-up for valvetrain wear for the service-life of the engine--it should be fine if you still have shaft rockers. If you have Edelbrock heads with individual stud-mounted rockers, or if you have a Chevy, pushrod length is part of valvetrain geometry.

 

X2 I critiqued this many years ago. I've run Chevy lifters, yes the pushrod cup was deeper, but it made up the difference for my decked block and cut heads ( total .080 )
Both Chevy and Buick lifter bodies were both .842
I believe the old Kenne-Bell "Only use Buick specific lifters, as others are undersize and will bleed off oil pressure" or something like that, I think it was marketing hype:grin:

 

BBB are 0.843 Chevy's are 0.842. The lifter bore of BBB is 0.8445. Do the math, that's why if you use chevy lifters, you have hemorrhage problems. Mike T. From TA gave that tid bit. Thanks mike.

 

thanks for all the great info guys, its my first buick rodeo, but ive done dozens of sbc, bbc, Pontiacs, and sbf, my engine had already been machined when I got it, and the original cam and lifters were mia, so I had nothing to compare to, Thanks again

 

There ARE 0.845 lifters available that are correct for Buick.
Melling JB-969
Sealed Power HT-969
0.842 are technically Chevy

 

The vast majority of GM lifters for engines of that era are .842", the lone exception was the Olds 425

 

Everyone is forgetting that most of our Buick's use a 3/8ths. tipped pushrod with a matching 3/8ths. lifter cup. Where as the Chev. is 5/16ths. You can use a 5/16th. pushrod in a 3/8th. cup, but not the other way around.

 

For Buick V-8's, 1970 and later Buick pushrod ball ends were 5/16"-diameter , 1969 and earlier Buick pushrod ball ends were 3/8"-diameter.

 

If Buick used 0.845 lifters, I'd like to see evidence. A scan of a Buick service manual specifying lifter or lifter bore diameter, or a part number where I can find a sample, and verify with my own micrometer would be nice.

Don't get me wrong--Oldsmobile, for example, used to rework engine blocks that had defective lifter bores. The blocks had the defective lifter bores punched 0.010 oversize, the oversize lifter bores were marked, and sent out in vehicles as if that was acceptable. Rebuilding one of them was a bitch, because most folks didn't recognize the "oversize lifter" stamping, so they got standard lifters and then had poor oil pressure. Oversize lifters used to be available, but so far as I know, nobody including GM makes them any more. If Buick used a similar system--where a few engines got oversize lifters--I could accept that as reasonable. Saying that ALL Buick engines got 0.845 lifters seems implausible. The lifter I measured was worn, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't worn by 0.004. Worn by 0.0005 I could--maybe--accept. (Especially because I measured with a caliper instead of a mic, and I didn't clean off the varnish at the unworn ends to measure the "as new" diameter.)

A 5/16 pushrod in a 3/8 socket is also going to be a problem. A 5/16 pushrod in a 3/8 socket isn't going to have any oil film strength, probably leading to excess wear.

 

Yep, they are available...

 

And the same part number with a 0.8422" diameter note.

http://www.autozone.com/1/products/53221-valve-lifter-jb-969-melling-jb-969.html

Devon

 

Guess: The LIFTER is ~0.842. The lifter BORE is 0.845.

 

ok lets go at it like this, car 70 gs 455 non stage car, all #s matching from wing nut to drain plug, stock rebuild w forged pistons, nos stage 1 camshaft, what lifter brand and Part #??? thanks Ronnie

 

Call T/A Performance and ask for Mike. Very helpful and fair price, done.
1-480-922-6807

larry