Anybody ever convert solid lifters to hydraulic?

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I converted a 67 273 to hydraulic. New cam, new lifters, new pushrods (custom length). Next go-round I'm going back to solid, though.
 
Looks interesting (except for the price). The 4 deg advance should give better mileage and low-end torque. I installed a hydraulic cam w/ similar lift in my 65 273 and used Rhoads lifters for better low-end. I have thought about similar for my 64 225, though it is harder to find performance hydraulic cams (those slant cars were ~1978+) and I don't know if any Rhoads lifters would fit. I am not a fan of adjusting valves.
 
That's cool, I really haven't seen much conversation on the subject. I like the idea of eliminating the periodic valve adjustments. Any particular reason you're going back to solid lifters, mvh?

Interesting points, Bill. I have plenty of research to do as I'm just getting started on my build plans. I like the gains this sort of upgrade brings.
 
That's because the slant was designed as a solid lifter engine. When the factory changed them to hydraulic lifter engines, they didn't run so well.
 
You might want to check in over at slantsix.org. I think,, and may be completely wrong but something like cam bearings need to be changed or some machining needed to feed oil to the lifters. I remember reading something,, but again I may be wrong.
 
Darter6 said:
You might want to check in over at slantsix.org. I think,, and may be completely wrong but something like cam bearings need to be changed or some machining needed to feed oil to the lifters. I remember reading something,, but again I may be wrong.
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No, but you do need to use the right pushrods with holes in them.

And I THINK you could use AMC lifters if you wanted to try a high-leakage type lifter. They are designed to oil from the side and pump up through the center, but I don't know if they would work to oil from the top.

I investigated this idea too but gave up on it because of too little benefit for the trouble.
 
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.

I have not seen the Clifford setup in person, BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
The slant six hydraulic lifters oil from the top down. The oil comes from the rear cam journal (has a full groove, not two metering hole like the solid cam), up to the rocker arm shaft, through the shaft out the rocker arms, down the hollow pushrods to the lifter. If Clifford does not include "special" rocker arms with oil passage to the pushrods, there is no way for the oil to get to to lifter (the solid adj. rockers do not have oil passage through the arm to the pushrod). As far as I know there is no such rocker arm made. Clifford has been informed of this, but keeps selling this setup. The cam refered to is also a very mild cam. There has been a lot of discussion about hydraulic cam conversions, over at slantsix.org.
It can be done but you need to use a hydraulic cam (available from several sources) and lifters, the Hydraulic rocker shaft, arms, and pushrods. Depending on the engine, it might require custom length pushrods (also available) to get the correct lifter preload.
 
I was looking at some of the threads over at slantsix and saw the parts comparison. It's quite the engineering workaround to get hydraulic lifters without changing the block. I would hope clifford would provide correct arms, but that would also require the correct rocker shaft, which isn't mentioned in the kit at all.

Of course I could be way off-base here and this kit is an upgrade, rather than a conversion.
 
wintermute said:
That's cool, I really haven't seen much conversation on the subject. I like the idea of eliminating the periodic valve adjustments. Any particular reason you're going back to solid lifters, mvh?

Interesting points, Bill. I have plenty of research to do as I'm just getting started on my build plans. I like the gains this sort of upgrade brings.
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...I miss the sewing machine sound?

As time goes on, I am undoing a lot of the mods I made over the years. If you're going to drive a rolllng museum piece, might as well maintain the original specification, for educational purposes.

Back to the topic, I didn't realize that this conversion was so complicated on a slanty. It was totally simple on a SB.
 
mvh said:
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Back to the topic, I didn't realize that this conversion was so complicated on a slanty. It was totally simple on a SB.
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It is not any different on a slant, then on a small block, except on a SB you don't need to change the rocker shafts. Both engines require you to change:
1) cam
2) lifters
3) pushrods
4) rocker arms
5)and on the slant the rocker shaft
 
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