Crane hi-Rev Lifters.

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:41 am

[quote="Devonrod"]Bugger !!! I have had a Crane 216 cam and a set of 99284 lifters since 1989 ! I got them on holiday in Florida, it must have been the first 216 cam in the UK, I didnt put it in my engine as planned back then, I am just getting round to building a new engine and read this thread!

You will need to get an extra set of 5/32" ball ends from Real steel when you buy the pushrod kit which comes with the bottom standard rover size 3/16" ball unfitted.

Kevin

Devonrod · Post by **Devonrod** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:53 pm

Thanks Kevin

I dont suppose standard 215 Buick ones would Fit?

Just found these about £100 cheaper! -----

http://www.v8tuner.co.uk/product.php?id=654

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:35 pm

Dave,

Not buick 215 but a good way to solve the problem, Paul wasnt doing those when I built my engine.

The rocker oiling is improved with the chevy system ( it pumps oil upfrom the lifter through the pushrod,then through the rockers to the shafts.

You will have to block off the existing oil feeds in the heads which should be easy, check with Paul. The ball sizes are correct just remember the smaller one goes into the lifter.

How high are you going to rev it and what lift does the cam have, the standard Rover rocker gear geometry is not very good and gets worse with more cam lift. ideally you should have the rocker pillar posts machined 60 thou. but that creates a problem with lifter preload as your standard length new pushrods will be too long, also are you machining the heads and decks?

The ball ends are usually just a press fit so if you get a push rod length checker you can determine the required length and get a machine shop to extract the balls on one end, trim off the required amount and refit the ends which is what i did, find a precision engineer in your area they will probably do it for a few readies, Motor engineers will farm it out and charge double!

Kevin

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:44 pm

I carried out a test today on the Crane lifters, basically I 'inked' up the ball end of a Rover pushrod then spun it round slowly in my pillar drill. I then pushed it down gently onto a Crane lifter cup. The result was not good, there is only a thin line contact, the large ball end barely goes into the cup at all. This is bad news!

Summit racing a emailed me a while ago and said that would consider adding a note about this on their website, they have not done it yet.

chunk · Post by **chunk** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:32 pm

I've been running Crane high rev lifters with standard push rods for 16 years with no problems. I have just fitted adjustable rods and fitted the big ends in because they are the same size as the standard rods. Had her running today, no problem.
The smaller ends would be slightly better, if you have the choice because they sit slightly lower in the lifter cup, which looks tapered to me and they are shorter, giving you more adjustment at the top.
Why don't they print some information in the instructions saying which end goes with which lifter. mmmm.
Hope this helps, it's never easy.
Cheers.

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:45 am

One additional point to consider is that the lifters have slightly conical faces and are designed to rotate, if the ball end of the pushrod is the wrong size this could prevent the lifter rotating and cause premature lifter and cam wear.

Kevin.

chunk · Post by **chunk** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:08 pm

When i turned my engine over by hand, the pushrods were spinning with the lifters.
And i believe all the lifters you can buy are made in America, so why 2 end sizes.
They both work by the look of it.

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:54 am

Yes both may work, but only the correct size ball will seat correctly, and only a small area of the larger Rover ball end will seat against the side of the lifter cup in the Crane chevy size lifter instead of seating right into the cup.

Kevin.

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:00 am

CastleMGBV8 wrote:only a small area of the larger Rover ball end will seat against the side of the lifter cup in the Crane chevy size lifter instead of seating right into the cup.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

That is exactly what I found with my pillar drill test.

There is a difference between 'will work' and 'is right'.....

Each to their own and all that but the engine that Muscle Manta and I will be building for a chap over the next few weeks will have the right size ball ends, that's for sure!

Pete

DEVONMAN · Post by **DEVONMAN** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:24 am

chunk wrote:When i turned my engine over by hand, the pushrods were spinning with the lifters.
And i believe all the lifters you can buy are made in America, so why 2 end sizes.
They both work by the look of it.

Hi chunk.

For many years, Rover had their lifters made in America to match their push rod diameter. These were not made by Crane.

Even with the incorrect pushrod/lifter match, the lifters/rods will spin BUT mainly at the top end ie at the rocker ball end.

Before I became aware of the mismatch I also ran incorrect rods without apparent problems but it ain't good engineering.
If it was under racing conditions, problems would probably have shown up.
Cheers Denis

Devonrod · Post by **Devonrod** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:28 pm

Well after sending an email to V8tuner about the hollow pushrods and getting no reply I phoned today and spoke to a woman who said that Crane cams shut down three years ago! (funny they are at the same address and the website says 2011!) and that I should email again to which I got the reply- that they have one set of pushrods suitable that need the ends pressing in in other words semi finished and these are £149.99!
he did not answer my question- are the hollow pushrods suitable or not!!! reading the advert they are for a Rover, have 3/16 one end and 5/32 the other, which seems to fit the bill!

I am going to stick the std ones in, to hell with it!

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:34 am

Yes Crane did go bust but were fianancially rescued and be running for some time now.

If you don't want to change to the Chevy oiling system then you could buy a set of tubular pushrod and and a set of 3/16 ball ends (no oil hole) from Real Steel and swap the bottom ones over, would cost around a £100.00

Standard length pushrods will work fine unless you have had any major machining done to the decks and heads and are going to use the original type head gaskets.

If you fit composite gaskets to an engine which was meant to have the tin ones you will lose approx .5/1 compression unless you machine the heads to compensate for the additional thickness of the comp gaskets.

Kevin.

Devonrod · Post by **Devonrod** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:06 pm

Thanks Kevin, I think I will stick the std ones in, I know its not right but I only do a thousand miles a year and dont go racing about anymore!
Its going in a 4.6 I got, I pressure tested the block cold and it came out OK but I am building it as cheap as possible, just new rings, bearings etc just in case its no good, if its ok I can always do a full rebuild if I want, I had the cam and lifters anyway so thought I would use them, everything externally on the engine (an old 3.5) is going back as is after a clean up-

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:52 pm

Well you won't to rev a 4.6 very high to get decent performance so will probably be ok.

Nice work on the car.

Kevin.

Devonrod · Post by **Devonrod** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 5:22 pm

Bumping this old thread found this for std Buick pushrods it says 3/8 ends !!! http://www.alexsparts.com/pushrods-215- ... 50-length/