The Cal-look Lounge

I have placed an order for FBO TIV ceramic tipped lifters.
I paid USD 365 for a set. Anyone with experience?
I am giving it a try although it is a lot of money.

Any comments?

The website list the price higher but this is what I got from e-mail contact with them and what I paid.
T1 lifters are tool steel tipped. Now the TIV have the ceramic.

Ahh, by the way, In Hot Rods yearly Engine Masters Dyno competition, that is just to be published, a V8 came second being the only one with flat cam and FBO  Ceramic tip lifter, versus all others (38) with roller cams.
 
http://www.4secondsflat.com/Volkswagon%20VW%20Racing%20Lifters.htm
(http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s207/Frallan2/ceramictip.jpg)

Very cool they made these and that you ordered them!
Price on their site is a 'little' more then what you paid?
Very curious what yours will weigh, as he advertises that they would be only 50 gramm!? My Schubecks didn't even weigh that little...

My only comment is that the small T4 lifter head diameter can only be run with 'mild' cams, otherwise the T1 lifter seems better for more aggresive cams.
Your going mild on your old age buddy?  :D

Mr. Airspeed Wally...
I am not going mild. The older I get the crazier.
I am rebuilding my old dragster too. Supercharged and if I only had time...all parts I have. Nothing mild.

It is my old 86C on 110 LC that has run for so many years in Sweden and in Italy as daily driver which will be mated with these guys. Now I know that means I have  agood cam and at least for longevity, it is not indicative.
I asked Don at FBO and he said USD 365 plus he said 10% lighter than stock.
This seems very honest and believable.

The 86C will see 8000 rpm.
On my link below of my cars on last page I have posted some build pictures.
Johannes at JPM also ran my three alterantive cams and the WEB got the thumbs up. The cylinder heads flow good he said.....my simulation with EAP gives me 190 hp.
Now in 2013, new pistons go in there, new exhaust and the turbo....then I chase YOU! :-)  You are my role model.

I still have a set of original 54 gramm wizemann lifters new . But they are 560 euros. They work for life
If someone has interest.. I did not find and engine for those until now
Udo

(http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s207/Frallan2/Ceramic.jpg)

I love them!
Very nice and worth every cent considering that I know they will not be the cause to wear down any cam.

They are nice! But what is the head surface diameter?

TIV size, which means 24 mm.
Seems if FBO only make the tool steel versions for mushroom style T1.
I guess so but who knows, if they can do the TIV maybe in the future we can see a myshroom style all or composite T1 too?

In any case, Don at FBO was very good to deal with and his almost immediate response on the internal chat site, lifts him/them one level above many other companies.

FBO statement:
"The ceramic inserts cannot be installed on the face of a mushroom Type 1 VW lifter.

We are not making the solid ceramic lifters at this time, possibly down the road sometime but we’re having great success with our steel body with tool steel tips for the Type 1 engines.

We offer a tool steel insert using Rex and D2 tool steel which is a cobalt based tool steel and offers the highest resistance to wear.  In the manufacture of any part subjected to a steel to steel working surface Tool Steel offers the greatest resistance to wear.  Rex being the highest grade and D2 being the lowest we would ever use for a lifter application.  There are people trying to use tungsten based tool steels and they are designated by T1 thru T15 but even the T15 doesn’t come close to the wear resistance of the Rex Cobalt based material.

All tool steels are graded by their resistance to wear the greater the resistance the higher the cost and it jumps in leaps and bounds when you get into the higher grades.

To even further improve the wear characteristics of all our Tool Steel lifters we put the tips through a 6 step heat and cryogenic freezing process which brings the Austinite element of the tool steel to the surface resulting in a much finer and harder molecular structure.  Once this process is complete it requires highly specialized diamond grinding tools to finish the lifter and achieve the correct radius on the face.

Don’t fooled by Rockwell tests on tool steel, they all Rockwell at 32-34.  Tool steel is graded by it’s resistance to wear"

(http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s207/Frallan2/precisionscale.jpg)



With this German precision scale I pinpointed an accurate 90 grams....with a reservation for possible age inconsistency ...of the scale.

Is there much difference to these T1 tool steel lifters and the Udo Becker lifters ? The FBO site lists three different strengths (and prices)