Install A Roller Camshaft In A Small-Block - Upgrade

On the right side (cylinders 2-8), the front and rear lifter galley plugs are removed and the galley is reamed to 5/8 inch from the front and rear. Then two pieces of copper tubing are pressed into the galley to seal it. Here you can see the copper tube pressed into the block's lifter oil galley.

On the left side (cylinders 1-7), the oil is blocked by either tapping and installing a plug to cover the oil supply passage in the lifter galley, like this, or by tapping and plugging the oil supply from the main bearing.

A roller camshaft and lifters, like this one from Comp Cams, can really wake up your small-block Mopar. Before installing one, however, there are some oil system modifications that must be performed to your block.

We found it easiest to tap the supply passage from the main bearing area, and install a threaded plug with Loc-tite to prevent oil from reaching the left side lifter oil galley. With these modifications performed, it's now safe to install a roller cam in our small-block without starving the bottom end for oil.

After the copper tubes are installed, the lifter bores must be "peened" so the lifters will fit. This can be accomplished by tapering the end of an old lifter and working it through the bore. Make sure that all surfaces of the lifter are free of burrs before "working" it through the lifter bores. After "peening" the tube that intersects the lifter bores, the tube must be drilled from the main bearing oil feed passages, through the copper tubing to allow oil to bypass.

Depending on the design of the roller lifter, it can dump oil pressure at either high lift, or on the base circle, reducing the amount of oil getting to the crankshaft and lower engine bearings. For this reason, oil must be restricted to the lifter oil galleys when running a solid-roller camshaft.