Thread: 216 6

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I have a 49 Chevy with a 216 6. I have only worked on Chevy V8's and aircooled VW's. My question is how do I get the camshaft lifters out of the engine? I have to replace the camshaft.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Scott

Remove the valve cover and pull the rockers and pull the pushrods.

Then pull the side cover (right side, passenger side) and you can pull the lifters out.

Hi ya Scott....Pretty rare for a L6 Chevy cam to go bad unless its the fiber gear that needs changing...You have two choices....Pull the engine.....or remove the entire grill.......The camshaft is too long to slide out pass the front clip parts...

Welcome to CHR Scott.
I had the same problem with a 235 six in a 53 Chevy. They get oil residue on the bottom so they don't come out easy. I had to grab the top edge with vise grips and yank on them. then tap them back and do it again til they finally came out. I ruined a couple of them this way and they aren't cheap. I bought a nos set on ebay. The parts store wanted $36 each.

..Now that we are on the sugject of removing lifters.. ...I have yet to try it on an inline but on small block lifters that have the build up under the bore that make them difficult to remove...I learned to pull each lifter up as far as possible so the camshaft will slide out..the make a craddle like piece outta cardboard the fits clear back to the last lifter and tap each one down to let it fall into the vee of the cradle and use a magnet with a long extension to draw each one out one at a time...Of course we don't run into soft camshafts like we used to...

I have an old lifter puller. It fits in the top of the lifter and grabs onto the lifter just above the snap ring groove. There is a rod that you tighten down through the tool handle to spread the 2 halves of the tool against the inside lip of the lifter. Then pull it out . Works pretty good.

Yeap, Streets, That's always been my experience too.

That 235 was the only one that ever gave me that problem. I wish I had one of them lifter pullers. The guy who sold me the engine said it was rebuilt with low mileage. I think he lied.

I like the puller cuz' those little lifters can be real slippery. 'Specially the ones that are down. With the puller you can pop em' all out without turnin' the cam. I inherited the tool when I bought the repair shop back in my Iowa Dayz'.