Want to change to roller block

[ricky1963]

I have 93 ford lightning with paxton supercharger and in the process of rebuilding the engine. Can anyone tell me what all is involved in changing this engine over to a roller engine.And what set of aluminum heads would you use.
Thanks
Ricky:bowdown:

 

[Blownnjucied94]

what is the 4 digit code on the block? its right above the starter, or do you have the intake off yet? if so, there should be two threaded holes above the cam for the spider/hold down, and the lifter bosses should be taller....

if you do not have a roller ready block, you can either get the 'link-bar' lifters, or do a smaller reduced grind cam. basicly they grind the patter on the cam to be smaller so that the lifter sets deaper in the boss, from my understanding

 

[turbosvt93]

For a non roller block you have to get the lifters made for it. Ford Racing has them but they are not cheap, Comp cams and few others do as well. The cam has a smaller bearing journals. I have never heard of they making the cut different. They are companys out there that can make one for you. I would recomend that. If you have a roller block then just go with the HO cam.

A lot of people like AFR 185s for these trucks. I am going with Edlebrock Victor Jrs from Fox Lake.

 

[hotrod93]

Converting a non-roller block to roller is not as hard as some have been lead to believe. The 408 that was in my 95 Lightning had an '89 block which was not roller ready. All you have to do is drill and tap the lifter valley for the spider bracket (make sure the bolts you use are not long enough to come in contact with the cam bearings when tightened down), then have the tops of the lifter bores milled down a bit to allow the dog bones to sit flat on top of the bores. This has been said already, but you will have to use a cam with a small base circle or the lifters will not go into the bores deep enough to allow the oil passages to line up correctly. It's not hard to do at all. ;-)

 

[kbconv]

With the drop in link-bar "conversion" or "retrofit" roller lifters, you can just use any regular cam 5.0 style then, no spyder or dogbones needed. CompCams, Crane and several others stock them, around $400-500 per set new. I got lucky and found a good SVO A351 Sportsman block for just a couple hundred more and it's roller ready and built like a brick, anyone need a good '74 block?

Also, yes, it is the base circle diameter that the lobe is ground on that is smaller on the retrofit type cams, not the cam journal diameters themselves. Several custom cam grinders don't recommend the retrofit style for a serious sized cam.

Check over at Hardcore50.com for mucho information on this subject.