Roller Cam?

[BigT]

Other than taking my intake off and looking at my lifters...is there a way for me to tell if my 86 Grand Marquis has a roller cam or flat tappet?

[91grandmarquis]

Pretty sure it is roller. I have an 86 Ho cam that is roller.

[1990LTD]

is 86 the year it changed? i know top end for 86 HO is different than other years but no idea about the rest

[91grandmarquis]

86 was a different year for the HO I dont know when the lopo's swapped over to roller.

[Grand Marquis GT]

It is a roller cam.

Also, I am in bldg 888! I want to check out your car sometime. PM me

[FatNasty]

I think they switched very late 85. You could pull your distributor and look at the distributor gear, if its steel its probably a roller. cast iron, flat tappet. Someone else could probably verify this info

[gadget73]

The other telltale is the distributor gear. Its steel on a roller cam, and cast iron on flat tappet cams. The pushrod length is also different, though I don't have measurements handy for flat lifter pushrods vs roller pushrods. All 86 motors had a roller cam from the factory though,.

[BigT]

Sorry I didn't put the reason why I was asking about the cam...I was in a rush.
I have a LOPO and want to change it to a HO speed density. I would like to get all the parts first to do a weekend swap to HO. When I get the replacement cam, I want to be sure I get the right kind for my car, flat or rollers.
I want to work out the bugs, if any, and then next year rebuild the engine with some cool parts like GT heads and Seal Power pistons.
I work next door in bldg 889! I’d be happy to show you my car. I’m sure you’ve seen it. Its gray with red, white, blue streamers on the antenna. It used to look real bad (sun beaten primer hood/roof), but I had the prisoners at Millbrook repaint it. It’s not a bad job, at least it’s one color now!
Thanks for the info. So what I'm seeing is I should be good to go with a 1990 mustang type roller cam.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Shame you didn't get with me months ago; I had a bunch of HO parts when I went EFI-to-carb. And yes I've seen the grey coach roof car with the V8 emblems parked over there. Going to have to keep these prisoners in mind!

I got the Blue 09 over in the 888 parking lot with the Iraq Campaign tags. Gimmie a shout!

[BigT]

That's too bad, but that's OK too. I'm not ready for the swap yet. I'm studying for a SSCP test (and it’s a bear), I've got an acre of limbs to clean up from trees I cut down, and I’m trying to score a trip to the WSOP this month. I got so close I could taste it…I won 2nd place in a tournament, and 1st place was a paid trip to the big game! Oh well…

Keep this in mind about the prisoners, I was on the waiting list for about a year before they called me. It was about 6 months for the vinyl roof. For as bad as the car was, they did a good job, especially for $650. However, there are runs and blemishes. All that being said, I’m happy with it, at least I’m not driving a two-tone primer anymore!
I like those car tags too. I’ll be getting mine this September.