Originally Marketed by "Gentleman" Joe Schubeck (Hurst Hairy Olds Fame)

and now offered by:

       And    

SM Lifters require NO Special treatment or Break-in on stock cast iron cams, this has been
their success story for the last 15 years. You install them on your stock untreated cam, using your race ready springs (no special motor oil required)
No Break-in and go racing. Virtually eliminates Cam Wear, you can change cams anytime using the same lifters.  These lifters work with any quality camshaft material cast to billet and are oil insensitive.

Fact or Fairytale?

Roller Cams make more HP-Just Depends on the application.....Under 6500 RPM the Flat Tappet will make more power than a equal roller cam.  The roller will take the lead at higher RPM's once it overcomes the parasitic loss of the valve springs.  In the 2011 Engine Masters competition the 2nd place engine in the street class was an LS1 with the roller cam removed and set up with SM Flat Tappet solid lifters, it scored higher than 38 Roller Cam motors in the class at max RPM by rules of 6500.

Today's Oils cause all the cam failures- Cam failure isn't new, in the late 60's we were eating up cams on a regular basis.  Always trying to control valve float by increasing spring pressures until the cam failed then backing off a 1/2 turn.  No doubt today's oils are a contributing factor but cam lobe design, sometimes inferior imported lifter material, lower quality machine work on the cams themselves all contribute to the more recent increases in cam lifter failures.

Ceramic Lifters Break- It's possible but, the only thing that can break a ceramic lifter is impact usually caused by valve float if you insist on not following our recommended seat pressures, don't check and maintain your valve springs and the engine goes into a violent float then yes you can break a lifter.  You can also break a Roller lifter just as easily and the resulting damage is about the same.  No matter what component you use if you don't follow the instructions on it's proper care and limits you will break it.  Doesn't matter if it's a rod, crank, pushrod, roller lifter or Piston.  If you use a Hypereutectic piston and hit it with a 400 shot of nitrous the piston will melt.  Follow the instructions and not the gossip on the internet posted by people who are not qualified to express any sort of conclusions or opinions.

SM Hydraulics Are Noisy- Yes they are, isn't that great! That's because they're a Performance Lifter, they're designed to run higher spring pressures so they are designed to hold more pressure in the lifter to stop lifter collapse and loss of lift at higher RPM.  Our Stock Eliminator Guys run 180-220 seat pressure on our .015 travel hydraulic lifters and spin them to 8500+. they set them with .003 lash and as soon as the engine fires the plunger bottoms in the lifter and turns into a solid with the travel making up the lash.  They sound just like a full solid lifter motor.  RPM, Performance headers, mufflers, gear drives, big electric fuel pumps, tork convertors and high ratio rear ends all make noise.  If noise is a concern perhaps a performance engine isn't for you.

Ceramic Lifters Make Roller Cams Obsolete- Not at all, these lifters are designed to control the valve and stop cam destruction in modest engines.  We don't all have 1000 HP 9000 RPM 7-8 second cars.  The majority of us are weekend warriors at the local track with our 10-11-12 second home built race cars or just enthusiasts.  We just want absolute reliability and good performance.  So why get into the expense, maintenance and in some cases lower performance of a roller cam that we don't really need.

Every Time I Change Cams!- SM Lifters don't care what cam you put them on, I repeat NO BREAK-IN so there's no pattern set in the lifter you can change cams or engines whenever you want.  We have engine builder that use these lifters and may try 2-3 or more cams on the dyno and never do a break-in procedure between cams. Many good engine builders won't even build an engine without SM Lifters, the risk is just too high.  An investment in good parts pays for itself, not only will you probably never destroy the cam or lifters but you will always have a part with residual value.  If for some reason you every want to sell these lifters a re-polish is $50, they'll look like new and maintain an extremely high resale value into the hundreds of dollars.  What's a set of used Comp, Crower, Isky or any other lifter worth?

STOP THIS FOREVER!

 Failures like this are very common, our SM composite  lifters eliminate this risk..

 The Composite or Ceramic tip is so hard and wear resistant that we must use high speed diamond grinding equipment to machine the surfaces.  Because of this extreme hardness and highly polished face it eliminates the coefficient of friction between the face of the lifter and the cam lobe virtually. eliminating the chance of metal transfer or wear.

 For years the only solution to protect against cam wear and still control the valve float and harmonics with enough spring pressure  was a roller cam to prevent total destruction of the cam virtually on start up.  The downside of this has always been initial cost, maintenance, and parasitic loss of power due to the massive spring pressures required to run this heavy valve train.  These issues are all history with SM Lifters they're light weight, resistant to wear, requires much lower spring pressures to accomplish the same task and initial costs and maintenance are nearly 1/2 that of a roller cam.

Cost Comparison Roller Vs. Composite

Over a 5 year program with recommended maintenance the SM Composite Lifters will do the same job for less than 1/2 the cost.  Make more usable HP and Tork from Idle to 6400 RPM.  Composite Lifter Valve springs could last as long as 3 Years, Roller springs need to be changed at least every year.  No custom machine work.

High spring pressures control valve float and help reduce engine destroying harmonics.  With SM Lifters the higher the spring pressure the more RPM you can spin the motor without catastrophic failure.  The numbers here  represent the pressures we recommend for a Race Prepped engine spinning at 7000-8500 RPM.  Do not use the recommended spring pressures from the Cam Company, they're using numbers based on antiquated, chilled iron, cam eating lifters.

If your engine is more of a street strip application that only turns 5000-6200 then these numbers are much lower.  We will recommend the correct spring pressures when you place your order.

Seat Pressures are only basic rule of thumb specs, actual Spring pressure is determined by RPM, Cam Grind, Valve size and all component weights, the actual pressures can be determined at time of ordering.

No Break-In & No Cam Lube Required.

Tool Steel Mushroom Lifters Now Available

Your Obviously building a serious Race or hot street motor and you don't want to float a valve or eat a cam lobe, THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE

If you don't think your getting Valve Float....Think Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfGg15WgSEU&feature=player_detailpage

Swap cams anytime.

Lifters will go back in any boss.

No More Valve Float!

Helps Eliminate Valve Train Harmonics.

Longer Spring Life.

The cheapest insurance you'll ever buy for your motor.

Allow 2-4 Weeks to ship

Racer Brown Composite Grind Cams

It's critical to the longevity of ANY lifter to use a cam that has been zero sparked, this basically means that extra time on the grinder until there are no longer any sparks coming from the grind stone.  Most mass producers of cams just don't take the time to zero spark the cam.  ALL Racer Brown Cams are Zero Sparked, that's the only level of workmanship and quality that Jim knows.

Racer Brown has developed a new design cam profile that takes maximum advantage of the Composite face working diameter to achieve maximum lobe lift and lift rate utilizing the max diameter of the lifter face.

We at FBO can custom curve a distributor to achieve the maximum performance on these New Racer Brown Cams, best idle and off idle throttle response you can achieve using these new cam profiles.

This Cam/Distributor combination is available in 3 stages for both BB and SB Mopar, Ford and Chevy utilizing a Stage 1-2 or 3 FBO Distributor and the correct cam profile for your combo of compression, cylinder head and drive line.

Mopar Power Package: Racer Brown custom cam, SM Solid Lifters, Custom Curved Mopar Distributor, and HR688 Ignition kit  $1269.00

Chevy Power Package: Racer Brown custom cam, SM Solid Lifters, Custom Curved HEI Distributor  $1219.00

Hydraulic Cam add $30.00

Call to order or tech help:

541-942-5920

FAQ:

What!!!  $760.00 for a set of lifters?

Well let's look at the benefits....

1.  If you take care of your engine the lifters should last a lifetime.

2. Wiping out a cam lobe will cost $1,500 to $3,000 or more depending on how much damage you have to the crank, pistons and block, you could lose everything and have to start all over.

3. You can change the cam and re-use the lifters, install them in another engine, no risky break-in procedures.

4. By reducing harmonics and heat in the valve springs they will last 2-3 maybe 4 times longer than a roller cam spring even further reducing maintenance costs.

5. Reduced harmonics in the engine further extends the life of your engine bearings, timing chain, oil pump, rod and main bearings, helps reduces cap walk and valve wear.

Do I have to match the lifters to correct lobe if I change cams?

No, oil them up and drop them in any hole, they'll work fine.

What about break in procedures?

There's NONE, you can break them in right in the burn-out box, No, I repeat No Break-in required.

We do recommend a generous coat of Mondello's or Torco's engine assembly lube, just basic engine building procedures.

Special lubricants?

No, just good oil like *Torco and we recommend using *Joe Mondello's (Yup, the real Joe Mondello) engine oil additive as per instructions on the can.  Using good oil as suggested is not a special treatment for the lifters it's just common sense.  The lifters are "Oil Insensitive" always use a high quality engine oil as recommended by your engine builder.

Do I use the same valve lash adjustments?

Yes, the Racer Brown Composite custom grind cams will come with a cam card that specs valve lash settings.  If your going to use another manufacturers cam then follow their instructions. Stock eliminator Hydraulic versions have a very low lash .003 to .005 About 1/8th of a turn.  The Street Version Hydraulics are adjusted at about 1/4 to1/2 turn from zero.

Where do I find springs with pressures like you require?

We have a good selection of springs for almost all applications readily available at very competitive pricing.  We can supply springs from Racer Brown, Comp, Isky, REV Valves or others to ensure you get the correct spring for your application or you can simply get the spring pressures from us and purchase your own springs from the manufacturer of your choice.  We prefer the Valadium springs from Race Engine Valve (REV) they cost a little more than a standard type spring but they last twice as long and won't loose as much pressure after the first heat cycle.

What if I damage one?

It's very difficult to damage a lifter, but if you should have a catastrophic engine failure and a lifter gets broken somehow you can order them one at a time.  If the face of the lifter gets damaged we can resurface it for you.

Any other questions?  Call us 541-942-5920 Monday -Thursday 6am to 4pm Pacific Time, Fridays from 6am to 2pm Pacific time or simply email us at tech@4secondsflat.com

Also Available Worldwide

Through authorized FBO Dealers-UK, Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland and NOW Australia!

call or email for a dealer location near you.

sales@4secondsflat.com

Items with a ( * ) are in stock at FBO Systems (Torco Oil and all Mondello Specialty Lubricants)

541-942-5920

FBO DEALERS WORLDWIDE CLICK HERE FOR LOCATIONS

This page last modified 11.18.11

VW Mushroom Lifters