be the pro/cons to boring out the lifter boss's to fit a late model

           or race type roller lifter, and then forming a support of some kind

           to re-enforce this area.............. I realize you would have to have a

           cam ground for this. Just a thought!

                                               Bill

Bill, this has been a thought and discounted long while back, think about having a roller big enough diameter to work, then put it in a follower to hold it, then take out the lifter bores to fit. theres the problem. Most lifters are too big for this. i know ted and other guys probably think of this often and will chime in. Years back an odd block referred to as a "werby" ?? block had large lifter bores cast in it and no one then knew if it just had large dia lifter or roller lifters.

As Bill brings up, the normal or run of the mill Y blocks do not have enough material in them to support boring out the lifter bores for the larger diameter roller tappets.  Here’s a past discussion on roller cams. 

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/forums/Topic889-3-1.aspx

Although Verne Schumann has offered a kit in the past that would esssentially replace the lifter valley in a Y block with a large machined plate so that the larger diameter lifters could be used, I’ve not heard of anyone actually installing this kit in a block.

A roller camshaft would be the logical next step for that big power increase for those of us that still run these engines naturally aspirated.  Nitrous oxide being used as a power adder could also benefit from the use of a roller camshaft but also works fine with the flat tappet stuff also.  But with roller camshaft technology currently being just out of arms reach for the mainstream Y engines, the other option to making big power is just simply through the use of superchargers or turbochargers.  With these power adders, the camshaft can remain conventional in design and still give the big power numbers.