Crane Roller conversion...Long...

[Torqsplit]

Sorry if this is already common knowledge but just wanted to pass-on some info from a phone conversation i had with a tech guy at Crane last Thursday. I know there are multiple threads related to cams lately but I hated to bury this in one of em. I'm in the middle of a 'stalled' re-build on my 4.7 and I'm looking for the best performance cam option. I've been frustrated with the cam options available to us for such a popular engine, that was highly reliable in its original form and has all the potential to remain that way. Even with modern oils, reliability/longevity and performance should be better if the aftermarket would rise to the occasion. Someone here mentioned before that Crane was trying to put together a Roller Cam conversion for the 4.0 liter and stroker builds. So i gave em a ring to see what the story was: YES! they are working on a roller conversion but it's still "a ways off". Same as mentioned here before he told me that hobbing/machining the distributor gear on the 8620 billet steel cam core is the main issue. He stated that Titan engines are currently one of they're biggest customers and they have expressed interest in this upgrade as well. For now, he said late summer ~August would be the earliest they'd have something available. It was stated that various profiles would be offered, and custom grinds available. We discussed a great number of the issues involved with converting to roller cam/lifters, and that basically this would be a far cry from a simple cam swap. Mainly that NONE of the stock valvetrain is capable of handling any of the benefits that roller cams offer: greater lift, more aggressive profiles. Combine that with our typically low-flowing ports and RPM limitations and why go to the trouble?? Hydraulic Roller-tappet reliability and synthetic oil options were my argument. Where the quality of some of the cast cam cores have come into question for simple hydraulic flat tappets(even w/good oil & proper setup), the prospect of the billet steel cam and associated quality components should alleviate most of these problems if designed as a complete package. Obviously i have high hopes for this! Granted a stock head would need attention, custom valve guides(for clearance), new valves, springs and all associated machining to achieve proper height, geometry and lash. Not to mention custom length pushrods to compensate for the taller lifters. This is a ridiculous idea for a stock motor and still and expensive option for a stroker build. But who here hasn't already done all-or-most of this at least once during a build or for cam changes? Hind-sight is 20/20 and if i knew i could spend a little more once in the beginning, and be done with it, i certainly would. Wouldn't you? Crane seems interested enough to entertain the idea and i feel if enough of the stroker community showed they're interest/support, they might be sure to make it happen. Call them and let them know what you think. Or just flame me for

[SilverXJ]

I had a conversation with them prior to purchasing the Mike Jones I am running now. The said they would look into a roller cam int 2013. Looks like they are keeping their word. The distributor gear was a problem with a previous venture into a billet roller cam. There was a whole long discussion on this in the early days here.

Did they give you any other details, like price they are shooting for, how the lifters will be held from rotating, etc?

[Torqsplit]

Sadly we didn't touch on those details. The conversation focused mostly on 'if' and 'when' they were still going to produce anything for us. I've read that the 505 lifter-pairs have to be split and re-assembled to make them fit down in into the lifter galley on the 4.0? Sure that poses an extra headache for any R&D. This was a 12-min phone call i made on my break at work so i couldn't have spent much more time than i did unfortunately.

[Retlaw01XJ]

Good to hear Crane is even considering new products for our Jeeps. They closed in 2009 and have climbing back under new ownership.
A Jeep roller could be a good seller if the quality, pricing, and (especially) support is there.

Another hot seller would be drop-in performance valve springs for flat tappet cams. Not much out there currently.