Thread: help with lifters

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i just bought new lifters for my 283 they seem to be a tight fit i was wondering if i could use some wet or dry emory paper to make them fit alittle looser

Originally posted by tyler
i just bought new lifters for my 283 they seem to be a tight fit i was wondering if i could use some wet or dry emory paper to make them fit alittle looser

what do you call tight?

what i mean is they haved to have some pressure in them to push them in and to pull them out and all my other motors when i would replace them they would slide in easy and be easy to pull out but with these they are alittle more difficult but they fit it is just alittle tight

Originally posted by tyler
what i mean is they haved to have some pressure in them to push them in and to pull them out and all my other motors when i would replace them they would slide in easy and be easy to pull out but with these they are alittle more difficult but they fit it is just alittle tight

no you dont want to have to push them in. ive heard of using a brake horn to clean the bore out, but ive never had to do it. dont do any sanding on the lifter. you dont wont to get the bore to big either or you will loose oil pressure by them.

I agree with Mike . I have built many small blocks and have never had to hone a lifter bore. If its lubricated properly and will go up and down with the cam I would leave it alone, You're likely to do more harm than good. Did You look at that lifter to make sure it doesn't have a burr on it somewhere? If the motor is in the car or already put together I would not do any sanding without dissassemby and a through cleaning. Sanding particles can ruin a good engine.

the motor is sitting on a stand and the lifters are brand new and i dont see any burrs i have lubricated them i will just let them be and see what happens i am most likely worring myself over nothing but better safe than sorry

you could have gotten a set of Oldsmobile lifter by accident....this will do the same...double check them....they should just fall right in no problem...no force...if you have to push them in they are WRONG

Well just chatting. On another thread I mentioned that on my rebuilt SBC 350 only one lifter required a slight tap to go in. The valves seem to open and close when I rotate the engine by hand so the lifter must be loose enough to move up and down. The requirement that it rotate on the heel of the cam may/may not be happening. I had the car in the shop and the mechanic offered to replace my EGR-Performer intake for a non-EGR intake so I said OK, but he replaced it with an RPM-Performer which is probably too big for my small street cam anyway. I am eager to buy an EPS-Performer which was recommended to me by the tech guy at Edelbrock and then I will have a chance to look at the lifters again. Since it is not easy to get them out, will I be able to see if the lifter rotates if I turn over the engine slowly by hand?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

If a freash cam and or lifters are going to wipe...they'll usually do it in the first thousand miles.....after that it is usually something else that take a lobe or lifter....

Originally posted by Don Shillady
Well just chatting. On another thread I mentioned that on my rebuilt SBC 350 only one lifter required a slight tap to go in. The valves seem to open and close when I rotate the engine by hand so the lifter must be loose enough to move up and down. The requirement that it rotate on the heel of the cam may/may not be happening. I had the car in the shop and the mechanic offered to replace my EGR-Performer intake for a non-EGR intake so I said OK, but he replaced it with an RPM-Performer which is probably too big for my small street cam anyway. I am eager to buy an EPS-Performer which was recommended to me by the tech guy at Edelbrock and then I will have a chance to look at the lifters again. Since it is not easy to get them out, will I be able to see if the lifter rotates if I turn over the engine slowly by hand?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

i dont think so don i belive it would be a running thing. like the rings i didnt know for a long time that rings turn on the piston while the motor is running.

Since it is not easy to get them out, will I be able to see if the lifter rotates if I turn over the engine slowly by hand?

Don,

Since lifters rotate rather slowly at idle (500-700 RPM), I'm doubting that you will see much at 5 RPM.

I've never noticed a rotation even when I'm lashing the valves. Of course, I may not have been looking too closely . . . with all that hot oil splashing around.

only way to tell is make a mark on it with a permanant marker and spin the engine over and take a look.....I don't think you'll notice much either but you may be suprised?

As far as the ring issue...ain't that funny....there not suposed to move....I am sure the vibration turns them....but it is kinda funny you can set them at 10o'clock and 2o'clock and when you pull em out there usually lined up?....maybe thats how zero gap ring were thought up?

Originally posted by dr_bowtie
only way to tell is make a mark on it with a permanant marker and spin the engine over and take a look.....I don't think you'll notice much either but you may be suprised?

As far as the ring issue...ain't that funny....there not suposed to move....I am sure the vibration turns them....but it is kinda funny you can set them at 10o'clock and 2o'clock and when you pull em out there usually lined up?....maybe thats how zero gap ring were thought up?

never seen one turn but have been told that.