Electrical discharge machining , lube holes in lifters

[fastback]

Anyone know if the holes in the lube-a-lobe style lifters are made before or after hardening?
the hole on the lifter surface to lube the liftersurface and camknock better.
i asume these are made by Electrical discharge machining , small hole.??

i'm thinking about doing this to a set of toolsteel lifters , that will be in an engine with drysump.
to ensure proper lubrucation of the cam/lifters

but not shure if this most likely will make a potensial "break point" in the lifters.

[Piledriver]

I'm highly dubious it helps an ACVW...

Even with a dry sump/case vacuum setup, you still have all the oil getting to the lifters from the crank/rods...

The holes can matter on V8s where the cam lives above the crank.

The EDM process won't care if they are hardened or not if you do decide to go there.

[Bruce2]

That hole is the legacy of George Brown. He dreamed up a solution to a problem that was due to something else, now many people believe the myth.
For years, Scat denied any problem with their lifters, yet hundreds of cams were being killed by Scat lifters. Then, with "nothing wrong" with their lifters, they put the stupid hole in the lifter. It had no effect on the cam killing spree Scat lifters are known for.

If you have UDO's lifters, you are a fool for considering to fcuk them up with the stupid hole. Why would you risk the success of tool steel lifters?

[fastback]

well i actually like the idea of having constant oil feed to the liftersurface and kam knock.
i cant's see that this does anything negative
the drawback would be a little bit lower oilpressure ,maybe not noticable anyway easy to compensate by mor flow.

anyway i have no experience i drysump, but "they" tell med the oil mist will be enough to lube the lifters.
or the oil that has already get beaten up by the rodbearings

the lifters are the one from "Exportbug" here Thorsten Pieper.
I'm aware that the EDM method goes through almost every metal (if not, all)
Reason i ask if the hole are made pre or post hardening is that if they are made after harning it would me a greater chance of succes , than if the lifters er hardened after the holes.
call me stupid , but i like to try and test some alternative solutions, and i'm also aware of he consequenses.
BUT IF i'm willing to test this on this engine , i'm not so shure of. so that's why i brief the idea.

[Bruce2]

Reason i ask if the hole are made pre or post hardening is that if they are made after harning it would me a greater chance of succes , ,

Isn't this reason enough not to risk it?

i like to try and test some alternative solutions,

To what problem?

[fastback]

Reason i ask if the hole are made pre or post hardening is that if they are made after harning it would me a greater chance of succes , ,

Isn't this reason enough not to risk it?

Yes

i like to try and test some alternative solutions,

To what problem?

This was meant "in general" NOT only this issue.

well i looked a bit more closely to the rodbearings and cam/lifter today, and i'm convinced noe that the oil from the rodbearings will be adequate, it is really close , located directly over the lobes, and the oilpump pumps many many litres a minute.

Peace .out.

[earthquake]

I would like to see a cam made like a L series Datsun 4-6 cylinder. they had hollow cams with a hole in the base circle of the lobes, early sixes had a spray bar in the head that sprayed oil on the lobes. I never saw a cam go flat in one of those motors.

Casey

[Bruce2]

Those overhead cam engines never had a crankshaft spewing oil right above it, so what worked for them doesn't really apply.

HOWEVER.......
I know an old local guy who used to race 356s back in the 70s. He said that during qualifying on Saturday, they would kill the cam. That night they would pull the engine apart and swap in a new cam so they could race on Sunday. By the end of the race, that cam was gone too. He said they went through over 20 cams before he had an idea.
That idea was to rifle drill the cam from the flywheel end. Then he drilled 3 holes radially at the cam's center main bearing journal to allow oil to enter the rifle drilling. A small pipe plug was screwed into the end to stop the oil from blowing out the cam plug. Then 1mm holes were drilled into the heel of the cam. This would spray the lifter every time it went around.
He said they went from killing 20 cams in one season to running the entire season on one cam.

[Piledriver]

Great story, Bruce.

Along those same lines, I read a bit awhile back about Ford Pinto cams (basically any 2.3L Ford 4 cylinder) Iskys guys called them "boomerang" cams, as they usually came back...

Isky started nitriding them. went from ~75% to <5% failure rate.

Webcam nitrides their cams, AFAIK the use the process on all their cams, along with spray on Moly coating that looks suspiciously like 3M Molykote.

Other than Web, who nitrides VW cams?