Lifter replacement

[brian6pac]

When the engine is not running the lifters bleed down, the ones you can't turn are on the higher side of the cam lobe and have pressure on them. I wouldn't use any additives. With the engine idling push down on the rocker arm on top of the push rod and see if you can push the lifter piston down, you have to push hard so put on some gloves and when it goes down it will clack loud so you know it's working.

 

[MrJLR]

FWIW, the instructions that came with my Hughes Whiplash cam and lifters clearly said NOT to pre-soak the lifters...I did not and no issues.

FWIW

Jeff

 

[AJ/FormS]

I think I got it figured out;
I presoaked mine, pumped them up, and installed them at zero lash, plus a tic. Then I fired it up, broke in the cam and shut it down. Next day, I retorqued the heads, installed the secondary springs, and tightened the lash exactly 1/4 turn. Then I ran thechit out of her for a couple of months until the 1/4 turn was not enough. I reset them to 1/2 turn and all was good for many many years.
Did that on three separate cams, in the same engine, in the first 4/5 years, looking for the perfect cam. The last one has been in there since 2004.
Or maybe I'm just lucky.

I know; no fair; I got adjustable gear.
To that I reply, every engine should have. That stamped stuff is only on there for one reason.

 

[Jadaharabi]

AJ
What cam is in the engine now?

 

[AJ/FormS]

AJ
What cam is in the engine now?

Hughes HE3038AL.
230/237/110 @.050
276/286 advertised.
lifts of .549/.571 @1.6 arms
Installed at 104,I think

Which, according to Wrymrider, because it is a .008spec Hughes/Engle cam like a Mopar cam, it might be bigger, than some other brand cams. How much? IDK But I have an opinion,lol . Looks like at least a half size. That is to say, a half-size bigger than a .006 spec cam. Don't know/ don't care, goes like stink.

 

[pishta]

Actually you are not supposed to soak or prefill lifters. They fill and take up the lash when it's either prelubed or fired. Pre-filling can hang valves open....

CraneCams says "...Many people mistakenly believe that hydraulic lifters must be soaked in oil overnight and be hand pumped up with a pushrod before installing into a new engine, however this is not necessary. In fact, this could cause the lifter to act as a “solid” and prevent obtaining proper preload."

I'm calling wives tale BS on this. For 1 reason. The time it takes a lifter to bleed down is far faster than the time it takes to wrench a preload on it, and also the pressure the rocker gear puts on it during the installation of said gear is minutes or fractional hours compared to the bleed down rate of a modern lifter. IIRC reading the Johnson lifter page and them saying they have a few different bleed rates, and they range from 1 to 7 seconds! That would be the time the lifter plunger takes to "bleed out" when its not under operating pressures due to manufacturing tolerances. Now to believe that anyone would assemble a valvetrain and set the final preload within 1 to 7 seconds of applying the first pushrod pressure on it...what are you using, an impact gun? and you have to do 16 of these, all from various stages of compression.. Then there is the final time between rocker assembly and actually starting the motor....Im not that fast so Ill keep pumping mine and ill miss that awful racket of the lifters filling with their initial oil supply, all 16 of them. Pre-lubing with a drill would do the same as pre-filling them if the rockers are still loose.