Ceramic lifters

I heard a rummer that you can't get these in the USA any more .Does Jake Raby still have a suppier? Or will they have to come from overseas?

Also are ceramic and composit lifters the same thing?

http://www.lnengineering.com/lifters.htm

I.ve been there and read the bad news. Even Jake has had to use a different lifter. Web cams also can't get them.

The supplier is still offering a Gm version for the 350 sb. I noticed at L & N it say they are still avalable direct. But when i visited the site no vw apllications are listed.

hmmm, what happened to the ceramics? I am using a set of them and so far I like them. I got them from L&M.

You better be taking real good care of them .I am told there are not going to be any more for quite a while and by then they will be a very big ticket item. I called Schubeck Racing and asked.

I have a question Schubeck racing is still making composite lifters for the chevy 350 sb ..

Can they be adapted to a T-4 . After sniffing around the web. i don'tt see anyone else in the USA making them.

I have another problem with the Chevy composite lifers. They may not be made to work in a type one If you bore out the holes you could lose the push rod tube seats ,if you get to close to the surface of the case with the reamer tool.

I was hoping to use those kind of lifters in my variaction of the Hot Vws 40 mpg milage engine. If you havent read the articles Thats a T-1 85.5 bore with a 76 counterweighted crank, straight cut timming gears, interaly flowed. balanced, and ported stock heads

My tweeks would be a CBP aluminum block , cryo treatment of the bearing ,ceramic lifters, and a T-4 oil cooler kit on the doghouse shroud Still a near stock T-1 but with some backbone and durabilty
for my BUG a daily driver.

Well, these were not originally cheap...about $400 for the set, hate to think they may go higher.....I have the CBP aluminum case, did Polydyne coatings on the bearings, oil shed on the crank and rods, cryo treatment on all the steel parts, complete balancing, and some other tricks, but I wasn't looking for mileage....

UH boy I found out more this kinda like the nickies deal with CB P.

The other company that came up with the lifters has mitary uses for the lifter stocks and was and is trying to hold out for very big contract of 500 thousand or so units of the lifter. to the highest agreeable company while were all left out in the cold.

That stinks of big money and big busness, and millions of dollars.
Here we go again its all about the money. Greed

And here I am with a T-4 In need of cerramic lifter Jake is trying to come up witha alternate lifer and so far is falling way short of the ceramics.

Who if anyone is offering roller lifter kit for these engines and are they any count I heard one ball park figure of $1250.oo or so.but I haven't even seen a kit as yeat.

I have the Nickies also, along with JE Pistons, but all that came from LN along with the lifters. That was a big check, but so far it is working extremely well...

I am in the process of taking my engines to an entirely different level with the use of Roller cams and lifters in all of them by the end of 2007. I am working on this heaviliy with every spare minute of my time going into it simply because I only have 13 sets pf composite lifters left in my reserves and when those are gone they are more than likely gone forever.

Myself and LN Engineering headed up the development and testing of the first composite lifters in 1999- 2001, back then they were 400 bucks a set and could be gotten in a few weeks. When we went to war the Silicon Nitride material used for the lifters was horded up by the military, making it VERY hard to get any for auto use. Last year my schedule was halted for 4 solid months while we had no composite lifters and ALL of my engines were proposed with them. Since then I have bought every lifter that Schubeck can make.

There are three manufacturers of this high end composite material in the US, Schubeck developed the technology and has two non competetive agreements with two of the suppliers- they won't sell to anyone else, even if they have material for lifters.. The third company won't talk to you unless you have a 100K buck order and pre pay up front with a wait time of ONE YEAR!

Instead of waiting around I decided to take my engines to a level that no other street engine manufacturer has with aircooled engines, by years end I'll have 20 roller cams developed. You can see pics of my latest accomplishments with these for the Type 4 at www.aircooledtechnology.com/galleries/roller

I figured that any development work I do should be the ultimate since there is only so much you can do with flat tappets, and we needed a change of pace..

BTW- The last ceramic lifters I bought cost me 640 bucks per set... I didn't blink an eye at the price- all that mattered was getting the lifters for use in my engines! One bad lifter in one engine costs me 4,000+ bucks! I'd pay over 1K per set for these lifters for the benefits they offer my customers and the engines that bear my name.

Thanks for posting Sir.

I figures It was something like that. I don't see a clear miltary use, for the material. but thats the goverment. I also realize the lifters you do have are needed to complete what orders you have now.

I realize this a very tough thing to get right, And this kind of roller kit requires some clearancing of the case as Im told.

How bad does it weakin the T- 4 ? Or have you licked that problem ?I hope? And can it also be done to a T-1 ?

They should work well. Please keep us posted On this one

I,ve got much of my T-4 parts, But no cam and lifter.

First things first. I Have to build a T-1 NOW. Before Im stranded. It will be a near stock engine. But would a roller cam setup be justfied in a mileage engine. Or just a waste.

I checked in On Jakes new roller lifters and from what I understand there are no guide peaces to install or nothing to monify they will install like regular lifers and cams. but everything is billet.
That means You can get It for any vw / porsche application you want. machined to specs.

NOW THATS SWEEY! but dare I ask how much. I'd go 1 k for the T-4 in a blink.

I haven't forgot pickin the Jiblets of my web cam out of the case and the sick feeling it gave me.

For at least the first two years the roller cams will only be available in my complete engines, not in any kits or individual sales. This is to gain as much information from them as possible as well as giving the purchasers of my complete engines the benefits they are paying for...

This set up REQUIRES NO CASE MACHINING!! The bushings slip right into place and are then checked with precision measuring devices we have had made just for the purpose to ensure they are totally perpendicular to the camshaft with no misalignment.

I am in the process of running these in my valve train simulation device as we speak, we ran them for 17 hours last week and will do another 40 hours this week before installing them into the first test engine. Ultimately all RAT engines will be rollers by October of 07 as long as we get the results in the wear and HP department that we are expecting. The road to this huge development has been long- I started this over 2 years ago and have an engine that I built then with 20K miles on it with excellent results and it was just a prototype..

As far as the ceramics- the price will keep going up- that material is like gold to people doing much more important stuff with it than we are. When we call it "space aged" thats not an exaggeration.

I will say Im not happy about that dicission, but I do understand the quality control issues. of long term testing.

This means your not certian of how well the split roller lifters are going to hold up over a long period of time.

But It will not change my plains, For now. I can wait a while longer, and continue my reseacrh of the other possabilties.