Do I reeeeally need to replace the lifters while doing a cam swap? They literally look like they are brand new. No uneven wear, scoring, concaving, etc. The cam didn't have any uneven wear on any lobes either. Just trying to preserve money.
Yes. They create a wear pattern to the lobe itself so it spins lifter. Otherwise you can expect to change cam again . This is not the place to cut corners.
Good idea, i never even thought of that. problem is is that I have no spec #'s for the cam or even know what cam it is. But I'm pretty positive its not the original. as i said the lobes look great.
Depending on what cam you have in there and what you are trying to achieve maybe you don't need a new cam. It would be good to pull it and see if you can determine what cam you have. As advised don't mix up the lifters or you may as well throw them out. The way people are sometimes having a hard time breaking in a new cam and lifters keeping a nicely broken in cam may be a good idea if it is close to what specification you are looking for.
What Mike said. I would also add if the cam you have in your engine isn't running the way you think it should, it could be because it was never degreed in properly. Degreeing the cam in is an important operation to do with any performance cam swap. Whoever did the cam swap may have skipped this perhaps because they used an stock replacement chain and gears that are ok with stock replacement cams but not very adjustable for a performance cam. Derek