TLDR Summary: 5 million cycles isn’t anything to be proud of if you’re into offshore.
For the 2019 Performance Racing Industry Tradeshow, Competition Cams purchased an ad on the back cover of the PRI magazine. It showed their new bushed roller lifter, proudly highlighting that they have tested it for 5 million cycles.
Sounds good, right? WRONG!
Here’s the truth of what that means:
5 million valvetrain cycles is:
- 208 hours at an 800rpm idle
- 167 hours at 1000rpm no-wake speed
- 83 hours at 2000rpm planing speed
- 55 hours at 3000rpm
- 41 hours at 4000rpm
- 30 hours at 5500rpm
- 28 hours at 6000rpm
So let’s speculate how this test went down: Some guy in Memphis, TN builds up an engine on a Wednesday morning and bolts it to a Spintron. He parks it at 6000rpm and goes to lunch. The next day, before he goes home, he shuts it off. That’s 28 hours of testing, or 5 million cycles.
That doesn’t even come close to what an offshore pleasure boat needs. The current standard of performance (250 hours) calls for 42 million cycles.
The conclusion is: don’t consider these lifters, and be skeptical of other bushed lifters in your offshore. 5 million cycles won’t get you far.
