Reusing lifters

If y

73duster513 said

Ok question while transporting my 360 with no heads on it my ratchet strap broke going around a bend and engine rolled over and all the lifters came out on one side of the engine and scattered in the bed of the truck (lifters not damaged) can I reuse them even though I don't know what bore they came out of (hydraulic non roller lifters)
If using the same cam

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Let’s think about how the lifters wear in to the cam for a moment.
The lifter bore is slightly off from the center of the cam lob all machined to a manufacturing tolerance and the cam lob has a slight skew to the surface that the lifter rides on all machined to a manufacturing tolerance and the lifter face has a rounded profile to its face machined to a manufacturing tolerance. So if all parts and mating faces are all in tolerance and by definition are then interchangeable when new. What in the process of an engine being ran would cause one lobe or lifter face to wear in much differently from any other? They all get the same lube oil, they would all see the same useage cycle, heat - cold starts, low and high rpm cycles, spring pressures would all be the same. So within reason I would expect parts like lifters that are interchangeable when new to also be interchangeable after use. After high mileage after many cycles mating parts may get a specific wear pattern. But in normal medium or early life I would expect them to be interchangeable.