Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Matchlight
Not the pickup truck versions. I was surprised by that too, never having messed with a SBC newer than late 60s until recently. Ford and Mopar went roller on their smallblocks for all applications in the mid 80s, but Chevy only did so for the high performance versions in the Corvette and F-bodies. The trucks remained sliders through the 90s.
I had a class last night, so I couldn't go poking around in my SB Chevy interchange manuals to see what the facts are, but I stand corrected. The Corvettes always got the new stuff first, followed very shortly behind (usually one model year)by the Camaro's and Firebird's. The Caprice platformed, full-size cars used small-blocks, but I believe the only one of those that got the rollers are the police interceptors. The G-Bodies also used SB's, but they used the 301's (Pontiac, discontinued in the early '80's), 305's (Chevy/Pontiac) and 307's (Buick/Olds). I believe, not sure if it's concrete fact, but starting in 1986 all SB Chevy blocks got grooves cut in the top of the lifter bores to accept either the rollers or the flat tappets. That was the improvement that I was speaking about that happened in the '85 to '86 time frame. Did all SB Chevy's use rollers starting at that time, no. I made a blanket statement that was not correct, so instead I bloviate in long posts to clarify myself. I woudn't surpised if the trucks used flat tappets all the way up to '95 when they came out with the Vortec induction systems.