Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.
I had an L76 in last month with a collapsed AFM lifter - not common but you do get the occasional one.
Interesting, are you certain it was MY9.5+ with the Delphi hi-lift vs Eatons?
I was recently speaking to Sam from Sams performance about the camshaft/lifter issues with the LS motors, like everything the motor is built to a price, the camshaft that GM use is of low quality and Sam believes it is a big reason behind the all to common lifter and camshaft issues. Just like the pistons that are used have a large amount of expansion when they heat up which causes the cold start piston slap. My motor has 90k on it and slaps pretty bad so im just going to bite the bullet and get sam to rebuild it for me using some quality forged pistons that can run much tighter tolerances and a camshaft that he recommends which eliminates all the lifter issues.
Woohoo! Diving in!! Go the JE FSR 0.030" oversize taking it out to 370, giving you 13.2:1 to play with e85 and premium. Good cam should take you to 340rkw and bigger bore and higher cylinder pressure under e85 will boost that at least 15%. See you have the flex fuel tables in your car, more free torque, 20% better fuel economy. If it were me I'd replace lifters, custom cam but retain AFM (then good for another 100k km).
Ballpark cost and hours?
Ballpark cost was 8.5k. 2 weeks off the road. Includes Diamond Forged pistons (Sam swears by them), shaved head, a small cam and new lifters. Ive just got to save up the cash then i will talk to them again and get into the details of what im actually going to do but i will likely go for what he recommends as he is arguably one of the better LS rebuilders in Australia. He recommended stroking it as he does a lot of 427's but i don't have that sort of cash lol