Schubeck lifters

[Alan Roehrich]

Forget a seat pressure rule. It is NOT seat pressure that creates the need for special lifters, it is the open pressure. I suppose you could try to write a rule covering both seat pressure and open pressure. Then you will force people to spend a ton of money on springs, if they can even find a set to match the rules.

Further, it is nearly impossible to set a spring pressure rule that does not have a disparate effect on various combinations. What works for one engine and allows it to reach maximum potential will not be nearly enough for others. So, who do you handicap, and who do you give the advantage to?

In any event, making a seat pressure (or any spring pressure) rule will only result in people having to spend a ton of money buying several new cam and lifter sets in order to find something to work with the new rule. The current cams that have been in development for years will now be door stops and paper weights. And then there will be more breakage while everyone finds the limits. Some cars will slow down a ton, some not at all.

The high spring pressures are already here as are the cams that work with them. They've been here for a long time, they're not new. We've been dealing with trick lifters for many years, this is not new. We do not need a new lifter rule or a new spring rule.

If you do not want to run ceramic lifters, then buy top quality tool steel lifters and follow the correct procedures. Or, switch to a combination that uses roller lifters with the current rules.

Mark, as far as the crystal ball goes, it is obvious. With roller lifters, the next failure point will be rocker fasteners for those who do get to run shaft rockers. They'll need stud girdles, or shaft rockers. Then what?

But there will always be a fuse, something will always be the next weak link that breaks. It is time to draw the line, and in fact, carve it in stone. The escalation must stop somewhere, or Stock Eliminator engines will eventually be the same as Competition Eliminator engines.