Morel hyd. roller lifter questions

[Rory428]

I recently bought a 347 SBF engine, that a friend had built, then "went in a different direction", and I bought it for less than 50 cents on the dollar. It has a Dart block and a Lunati hyd. roller cam with a Jesel belt drive and shaft rockers, seems like overkill with a hyd. roller, but thats what he wanted. Anyhow, it has Morel "Hi Rev" hydraulic roller lifters,PN 5879, and the instructions say to use oil no heavier than 5-40, I had planned on using 10-30 Brad Penn oil, has anybody had issues using these lifters with 10-30 oil, and if so, what was the problem? Also, are these a short travel lifter, or do they need 1/2-3/4 turn of preload? Frankly, I would have used a solid if I was building the engine myself, (and more compression),but as it is, even with the smaller hyd. roller cam, it made 40 HP on the dyno than my old 331 did, and was still pulling above 7000 RPM, so  I may as well try whats already there, since it is all new except for a few dyno pulls. Also, my old 331 had AFR 185 heads, the new one has AFR 185s as well, but these heads say "Renegade" on them. Anybody know what makes a Renegade any different than my old heads?

[Falcon67]

Can't really answer but if Morel has a hydro lifter that can stay put to 7000, I'm interested.  I also only use 10w-30 in the race cars.  I currently run a Howards hydro roller with Howards roller lifters in the door car 351C and it signs off at 6500 like a rev limiter.  To Howards credit, they specify that their lifter is only good to 6500. 

[Barry_R]

Morel makes some of - not all of - Howards' hydraulic roller lifters.
I have seen some cam/lifter/spring packages that drop into a virtual crater at a certain RPM

[blykins]

Morel has lifters that will go 7000 rpm and higher, even on FE's. 

Rory,

You need to run 5W30 on those.  Those lifters are standard travel, but have high rpm valving and are rated for very high spring pressures.  The lifters by themselves sell for about $975. 

[Rory428]

Thanks Brent, the guy said that they were about $1200. Canadian, I guess he was telling the truth then. Any idea what makes the AFR Renegade head different from the regular 185s? I know these heads have titanium retainers, but I think they may have been been changed by the builder. Also, Brent, between the belt drive, and Meziere electric water pump, I won`t be able to use my original alternator brackets, any suggestions? The alternator will be the only thing belt driven, flexible where it sits.

[e philpott]

The Renegade is AFR’s latest and greatest design, my brother has a set 195’s on a 347 Maverick

[blykins]

Thanks Brent, the guy said that they were about $1200. Canadian, I guess he was telling the truth then. Any idea what makes the AFR Renegade head different from the regular 185s? I know these heads have titanium retainers, but I think they may have been been changed by the builder. Also, Brent, between the belt drive, and Meziere electric water pump, I won`t be able to use my original alternator brackets, any suggestions? The alternator will be the only thing belt driven, flexible where it sits.

The Renegade is just an updated version of the older head, now coming with 8mm valves, and they added some different port volumes (220, etc.)  They are really nice heads. 

As for the alternator bracket, check with CVF Racing (www.cvfracing.com) or Jones Racing Products (www.jonesracingproducts.com).  They will both have an alternator bracket for electric water pump and belt drive.   The last one I built like that, I used parts from Jones Racing.