BAM lifter mod

Bought a set of BAM solid roller lifters with the steel bearing. These are oil thru w/pushrod oiling. Assembled the valve train and primed the oil pump with my cordless drill. I have oil at the lifter, but not up the pushrod to the rocker. I called BAM and the gentleman tells me i have to make a mod to the lifter if this happens. Seems, if the lifter bore to lifter clearance is on the minimum, you may have to perform this mod. There is a couple oil holes in the side of the lifter on the machined surface that need to be connected. I think i can do this with a dremel and a small cutting wheel. You just have to make a very shallow groove he tells me, not much more than a scratch. Anyone here every have to do this?

Pic

Let us know if this fixed your issue.


Joe

Will do. Ran out of time for the car for now, but will get this done asap.

Hi Dave, had this same problem on a big block Ford 30 years ago. only make a very fine scratch or it will flood the rocker gear. Rob.

I work in a small race engine shop, assembling (mostly bowtie) engines. This modification is needed on them. Dart says to cut them .020", but as stated above, that much will flood the rockers. A scratch that you can hang your finger nail in is enough. The results will surprise you.

Brian

Ok I will be easy with the dremel. Thanks

I cut the grooves needed for oil to flow thru and yeah, make them small/shallow. I cut them as much as shown in the pic and its more than enough oil. I dont think its anymore than my flat tappets oiled thou, but if i did it again i would make them much shallower.

I just cut my Isky's. Been running them 9 years. But this year we tightened up the lifter bore bushings. I didn't like the oil flow with the reduced clearance. Especially the intakes as the pushrod oil feed hole is offset and never lines up with the bushing orifice. I made the notch deep like .020". Is it to big? My theory is the restriction before was the pushrods. They are restricted with roll pins as the inner diameter was .107" This has worked for years. Well see soon.
Doug

You will just have to prime it up and see what you have flowing. My eyesight is not what it used to be and i could not see clearly how deep i was cutting. I may have to install restrictors in the pushrods. I dont think so, but will see.

I realize the job is already done, but for anyone needing to do this in the future, I would suggest using a lathe to broach a scratch from hole to hole. Much more consistent/ controllable. Just lock the chuck, and turn the cutting bit 90°.

Yes, it fixed the issue. I didn't make it out to the track last year and maybe a good thing as last time i spoke with Best machine, they said not to make a full pass, because these lifters require bushed lifter bores and it may suck the pan dry and kick a rod out. My 400 block is not bushed. I did run it hard down the freeway a few times last year without issue, but not like a full qrt pass. Thinking i may have to use these in the BMP Hemi block and get something else for my 511 stock block.

I can report mine has made well over 100 passes with the Dremel mod. They do not flood the head. In fact idle oil pressure is up compared to when the lifter bore clearance was looser. Verifing that less oil is lost around the lifter/valvetrain than before.
Doug

That certainly is encouraging. Maybe i will be fine with these lifters in my stock block wedge as well. I will keep a close eye on the oil pressure gauge when running hard for a bit. Thanks DVW

Question, if you run a conventional Mopar solid or solid roller lifter with a hollow pushrod, will you still get any oil through the pushrods?

I've been fabricating bushing "sleeves" that i slip around the rocker hold down studs in the head where the oil channel passes up to the heads in order to reduce the amount of oil flow to the top as the stock system seems to push way too much oil up top that I'd rather have in the sump. I liken my simple mod to the guys back inthe day that use to machine the oil passages in the block to install holley fuel jets to reduce the volume,

I was always curious to know if any oil would reach the rocker through a hollow pushrod anyway. In either event it seems the rocker/pushrod ball/cup would get enough splash or vapor oiling in a conventional wet sump engine anyway. But with pushrod only (no shaft flow) oiling I could see that being a problem.

Years ago Tom Hemphill had me do similar mod on Comp lifters, but I believe it was from the oil band to the roller pin.

Yes, when i prime it up with the drill on low speed i get plenty of oil to the rockers.

Glad that lifter mod worked I have 2 sets of these lifters for upcoming builds and may come across this issue too. One is for a iron hemi and one for a wedge... Also 511 from stock 400. I'm trying to figure out this bushed lifter bore debate. Best told me the exact same thing when discussing my hemi combo, but how is a guy supposed to know unless it's too late? I've seen photos of hemi builds on Indy's FB some without bushed lifters in iron blocks with BAM lifters. They must be getting away with it?

I'm confused, without the mod on unbushed lifter bores you suck the pan dry? but i thoughthe issue was pushrod oiling?

That's 2 different things and not normally a Mopar issue, Dave was yours doing both?

I run the BAM's on my 414 and my oil pressure dropped from about 60 hot to like 45 but I still use shaft oiling. would doing this mod increase my oil pressure?

from the way i understand chuck, is the lifter bores need to be bushed to control the oil. Its not the mod thats the issue. Sometimes a roller lifter with a high skirt can dump a lot of oil out of an unbushed lifter bore when it uncovers the oil galley while on the nose of the cam. I had this issue with a SB once and after 3 sets of different brand lifters I found that the Morel lifter fixed because it had a lower skirt that kept the oil galley covered at all times.. Chuck didnt explain it that way, but i think thats what he meant. My other block is bushed, so i may use them in it if the issue arrises.

I ran the morels before which are very long bodies compared to the BAMS and much heavier, essentially hydraulic roller lifters converted to solids. Never had an oil pressure loss through the valley (which I assume with the BAMS results in a bit of a "pulsation" as various lifters go to the top of their lobe.

What I hated about the morels was the weight and the long bodies combined with the 59 degree tappet angle made for really short poorly angled pushrods.

I'm living with the lower peak oil pressure but I added an accumulator which certainly seems to help for peace of mind, especially at 7200 on the big end, And the motor revs a lot easier with the reduced valvetrain mass and improved geometry.

I suppose when I go back through the motor I can bush the bores or maybe detune the motor with a lower lift cam and just put the car back on the street and maybe spray it instead.

Yes, i did not like those goofy pushrod angles in the SB.