Johnson Hydraulic Roller lifters

OConnor

Member
Joined
May 29, 2001
What is the difference between the Johnson short travel lifters and the Johnson race lifters?
 
It appears that neither type is available yet. I'm waiting for the short travel rollers to become available. I am running Comp 885 short travel lifters right now. The short travel lifters seem to be a lot noisier than any other type. I run mine at zero lash as recommended by Comp.
 
That's what was in the Comp catalog back when they made the 885's.
 
They are doing a short run now. I ordered a few sets, we'll see...
You shouldn't run hydraulics without lash, it will beat the retaining clip out and that's all that holds the plunger in, except the pushrod, until u float the valves and everything falls out! All Hydraulic lifters, on a fast ramp rate performance cam make more HP nearly bottomed out, that way you don't lose much lift or duration when they bleed off. And they all do, especially turbo and blower engines.
TIMINATOR
 
They are doing a short run now. I ordered a few sets, we'll see...
You shouldn't run hydraulics without lash, it will beat the retaining clip out and that's all that holds the plunger in, except the pushrod, until u float the valves and everything falls out! All Hydraulic lifters, on a fast ramp rate performance cam make more HP nearly bottomed out, that way you don't lose much lift or duration when they bleed off. And they all do, especially turbo and blower engines.
TIMINATOR

Lash???
..
 
PRELOAD!!!!!!!
I MEANT PRELOAD!
Most run a half turn down from zero. That advice is from the OLD DAYS when lobe design outpaced spring design, and valve float was a normal occurrence with most performance cams. When float occurs, the lifter will fill up the oil chamber and hold the valve off its seat, possibly allowing valve to piston contact, and destruction. This is also why cam companies say you need .100" to
125" valve to piston clearance.
With modern computer designed lobes, and better spring materials, float is mostly a thing of the distant past.
Preloading at a "half turn" or .025/.050" can allow as much as .100" of plunger travel to bleed off under higher rpm, boost, hot oil, or the amount of spring pressure required on a turbo engine to keep the valves closed against boost in the intake tract, or back pressure in the exhaust.
All Hydraulic lifters bleed off to some extent when running, or off, if the engine is shut off with a valves, or several open.
That's why it's common to have a few clicky lifters on startup until oil pressure refills the chamber under the plunger.
The deeper the preload, the less the amount of lost lift and duration will be when the oil is bleeding past the plunger.
On a hi perf/high spring pressure application, many of us run the preload a half turn UP FROM THE BOTTOM!
This limits the loss of lift and duration to a maximum of that amount.
An adjustable valvetrain (which our v-6s don't have), setting preload is easy. In our engines, bleed off all the lifters one at a time, and replace the pushrods with longer ones to put the plunger lower in the lifters. Smith bros. will make you ANY LENGTH you require.
Serious racers limited to Hydraulic lifters by NHRA or engine design have 4 or 5 sets of pushrods in .025" increments to effect preload changes.
A solid roller cam and adjustable valvetrain is an easy, but not cheap solution. Several sets of different length pushrods is cheaper, if you care enough to get that last bit of HP.
Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go, or more simply put, how often are you prepared to lose.....
TIMINATOR
 
I just ordered a set of Johnson Race Lifters from Full Throttle. Maybe they will not be as noisy as my Comp885's. I wanted the short travel lifters, but the race lifters were the only ones listed.
 
Before any of you say:"I have adjustable roller rockers, and I can add more preload." DON'T!!!
Most instructions that come with them aren't very specific as to why that isn't possible.
Our Buicks (and most other shaft mount rockers systems) oil the rockers thru the pushrods. The oil hole in the side of the adjuster needs to line up with the oil hole in the rocker arm body to allow oil to flow to the pivot/trunnion and roller tip. If the adjuster is not within a one or two thread range, the oil flow will be cut off or restricted, resulting in rapid wear of the trunnion or tip roller bearing. Most of the instructions that I have seen don't make that very clear. Just sayin'..
TIMINATOR
 
I just ordered a set of Johnson Race Lifters from Full Throttle. Maybe they will not be as noisy as my Comp885's. I wanted the short travel lifters, but the race lifters were the only ones listed.

The Short Travels are available also!!
 

The Short Travels are available also!!
Thanks. I didn’t see them. I’ll change my order tomorrow.
 
 
Thanks for the adjustment specs.
 
I believe there's another variety that's not listed there. A lifter with almost no hydraulic travel.
 
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