I have a 1953 235 powerglide engine that I plan to completely rebuild. Today I took the block, cam and crank to a local engine shop. The owner pointed out what I was already afraid of; my cam has a few badly worn lobes. I know the hydraulic lifters are toast as they all are badly pitted. So….. now I need to learn more about the cam and lifters. The shop owner told me that there were two different cams; a cast iron can with larger bearings and a steel cam with smaller bearings (mine). He also said that the two cams require lifters made of different material.

Looking in some of the catalogs I found a couple of them only offer one lifter for all 235 hydraulic lifter motors and another says there are no good hydraulic lifters. Does anyone know more about this ??

I’d like to save a couple of bucks and have my cam reground, and was wondering if anyone has ever ground the bottoms of lifters to remove the pits..


1941 Chevy Master 3/4-Ton
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