Hey guys.....got some things bothering me today. I got my head and rocker arm assembly put back on this weekend and im thinking of a few things. One....can I remove and replace lifters with the block in the car and assembled?? Reason why I ask is because one of the push rods kind of "crunched" into place rather than the others who kind of slightly "popped" in. Sounded like dirt crunching. What should I do? The other thing is....I backed a few tappets off when reinstalling the rocker arm assembly to ease install..... Should I adjust the valves cold, then run it and readjust hot? Thanks for the help.

You can easily get the lifters out with a magnetic pickup tool, or maybe even with your bare hands, as long as you have a pre '75 head. Otherwise, you'll need to pull the head. Helps to turn the cam around until that lifter is poking out of its hole. Pull the pushrod and look for scoring and clean the pushrod pocket in the lifter and look for scoring there too.

You definitely want to adjust the valves cold (give them all about 0.003" more clearance), then run it for 100 miles or so, then adjust them again, this time hot.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Hey Lou....Thanks for the advice. I'm going to pull the rocker arm assembly back off tonight and pull the lifters.....mmmm late night auto repair, my favorite. I'll let you know what I see (or dont see)....You know what I mean. Maybe I need new lifters, huh?

Keep everything in order, don't get parts swapped into different locations, especially the lifters.
Start with the one that did not feel right, my bet is that you will not find much, Slants are pretty tough, they put-up with a lot of dirt and crud.
DD

100 miles??? Wouldn't 20 or so on a highway be enough to get it all warmed up and get the oil cycling through it good? Or is there a "break in" to be done when stuff is reinstalled?

_________________
'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

I have had experience with valve jobs/train taking a few hundred miles to break in with new or remachined parts. I adjusted my valves hot when I first put things together, then they tightened up after about 400-500 miles to where it was rough idling and stalling. The best way would be to adjust them cold, then hot after a few miles of driving, then readjusting them hot after about 1000 miles.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Well DD....its a little too late. I pulled everything out without marking them or anything. Dont know why. All the lifters "look" the same. Im not going to be able to figure out which goes where now. What is the upshot of this? Can I figure it out?

So are we talking new cam and lifters or used stuff? How many miles on the lifters.
The safe way to go is to buy a new set of lifter to put back into the assembly, you can also see if anyone in your area will resurface them.
DD

I honestly dont know how many miles are on the lifters or cam. Ive only driven the car about 50 miles myself and the previous history is anyones guess. I'll be OK to take the hit in the wallet for new lifters due to my own ignorance. I'm learning a lesson, right?? Will putting them back in randomly trash the cam? Just wondering.

I'm assuming these should be replaced with the lifters, huh??

Well, the idea is that lifters and lobes, once mated should stay together. That idea is now history for you. In a perfect world, you should start over with fresh lifters. But if it's an engine with unknown mileage or history, not a new cam or a hipo cam, I'd say throw 'em back in and hope for the best.
Don't worry about the pushrods, as long as they're straight and all the same length, they should be ok.
If the old lifters are concave on the bottom, then they're no good and should be replaced. If that is the case, then the cam is headed south, also.
I agree with Lou, adjust them cold a few extra thou loose, and readjust after it's warmed up.

_________________
'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd

If you re-use the old stuff it may help to run them in just like a new cam and lifters. Some of the cam lube that is used on new cams may help.

Cecil

I know there is no noticeable concave on the bottom of the lifters. They "feel" dead flat. The only wear I see on them is in the pushrod pocket and this looks minor if noticeable at all. I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and replace the lifters and use some camlube like Cecil suggested. Any other thoughts (besides what a tool I am) are welcome. Thanks.

I personally never mark lifters for the bores and have never had a problem, especially on a low revving motor like a Slant that has pretty soft valve springs. One thing to remember if you decide to use break-in lube on the lifters. Only put it on the face that rides on the cam lobe. If you get it on the sides of the lifter it may not spin in the bore and could wipe out a cam lobe.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Dennis, right on! I thought that I was the only one who did that. I usually run a hone lightly through the lifter bore, and use ATF on the sides of the lifter. The cam lobe and lifter will not last if the lifter doesn't rotate while the engine is running.

_________________
'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd