presoaking lifters

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cudamike13 said:
There is another way!
Pull the distrib and put your priming tool in the hole.
Then as you turn the pump, a buddy slowly turns over the motor by hand and all the lifters will fill with oil and your whole engine will be oiled up and ready to start as soon as you put the distrib back in!
Works for me!
Click to expand...

I use the trick of putting a fitting into the hole where the oil pressure sensor is and hooking up a hand garden spray pump filled with the oil I will start the engine with. pressurize that pump and the oil feeds in while you hand crank over the engine.
 
The problem is not getting oil into it, or air out if it. It's getting oil out. The lifter is designed so oil has a difficult time getting out.. Otherwise they couldn't keep the plunger tight to the pushrod and taking up the slack in the valvetrain, which is what they were designed for. When they are dry and installed, and dry refers to the area under the plunger, inside the lifter, the pushrod holds the plunger where it should be, and then the oil, upon entering (which is totally unrestricted through the hole in the side of the lifter), only fills to where the plunger is. If the plunger is up against the retaining clip inside the lifter, there may not be enough pressure from the valve springs to push that plunger down because it's acting against the spring holding the valve closed. It's easier to open the valve (when it should be closed).
But, you can only explain it. You can't make it understood...lol. :banghead:
 
Evidently, my first answer got removed. We pumped up lifters since they were first made; now you don't? I never had a problem with pumped up lifters, slowly tighten rockers- they are actually designed to bleed, and have oil flow.
 
Priming the engine and rotating it are the proper way to get oil to the lifters but I found while watching the rockers turning the engine over by hand it takes a while to get oil to the top end.I actually bump the starter a couple revolutions once or twice while priming and this really aids in getting oil to the top end efficiently,doing this I have always had quiet lifters with in seconds while breaking in new engines
 
StrokerScamp said:
The lifters don't have to be pumped up to adjust valves. If you cannot feel the lifter preload spring to get valve adjustment right, then engine building may not be for you. Might I suggest a desk job?



a desk job huh,
Click to expand...
 
I have always put them in a coffee can and poured oil in the can over night and let them soak.
By the time i run the engine I would have turned the engine over by hand so many times with them installed, nice and slow, they just bleed down.
If i was running minimum valve clearance then maby i would not soak them.

I can't really say that it matters, unless you install them and don't crank the engine over by hand and just start the engine like a fool,then i guess it might be a bad idea to soak them.
 
Coyote Jack said:
Do not pre lube lifter.
Put break-in lube on bottom of lifter.
Put light coat of motor oil on sides of lifter.
Insert lifter in lifter bore.
Do this 15 more times.
Adjust all rockers.
Use priming tool to prime engine with oil. Turn crank slowly while doing this.
Install intake and any other engine parts required to complete engine.
Fire her up, you are good to go assuming you did everything else correctly.

Jack
Click to expand...

This is pretty much my method. I install the cam while the engine is still on the stand. Once I see oil seeping out from priming, I stop. Then I put the oil pump drive gear and shaft in and turn the engine over by hand. Makes a hell of a racket as lifters pump up and take the slack out the valvetrain. When it turns over fairly quietly, it is good to go.
 
lead69 said:
Priming the engine and rotating it are the proper way to get oil to the lifters but I found while watching the rockers turning the engine over by hand it takes a while to get oil to the top end.I actually bump the starter a couple revolutions once or twice while priming and this really aids in getting oil to the top end efficiently,doing this I have always had quiet lifters with in seconds while breaking in new engines
Click to expand...

The rockers only get oil at certain times, when the oil holes in the block line up with oil holes in the cam.
 
cudamike13 said:
there is another way!
Pull the distrib and put your priming tool in the hole.
Then as you turn the pump, a buddy slowly turns over the motor by hand and all the lifters will fill with oil and your whole engine will be oiled up and ready to start as soon as you put the distrib back in!
Works for me!
Click to expand...
x2
 
All I can say on this now is, obviously, there's more than one way that works. There are lots of people here who have been doing this a long time and are far from stupid, yet have done this differently with good results. So probably as long as you don't blow anything up, it's all good.
 
StrokerScamp said:
All I can say on this now is, obviously, there's more than one way that works. There are lots of people here who have been doing this a long time and are far from stupid, yet have done this differently with good results. So probably as long as you don't blow anything up, it's all good.
Click to expand...

Well said SS. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Jack
 
I completely assemble my engines,lubing the timing set
and dabbing assembly grease on all contact points.
I lube valve stems with oil before I assemble the heads.
Rings and pistonskirts are oiled by oil on the cly walls.
After complete assembly I run the oilpump to fill crank,
cam bearings, lifters, passages and filter with oil.
I turn the engine over by hand till everything is oiling
to my satistfaction.
After 30 min breakin I change oil and filter and
again at 500 mile on street engine.
Just how I've alway done it.
Usually have lots of smoke and smells in the
first 1/2 hr.
I worked in a machine shop and dealership,
and the second time around was on me.
We call them fetchybacks and they SUCK!
Transmissions are the only thing I ever cross my
fingers on.
 
ham_r_down01 said:
The rockers only get oil at certain times, when the oil holes in the block line up with oil holes in the cam.
Click to expand...

Correct,but bumping the engine a couple times with the stater (rotates faster than by hand) while priming gets the oil up top quicker to all the rockers.
 
lead69 said:
Correct,but bumping the engine a couple times with the stater (rotates faster than by hand) while priming gets the oil up top quicker to all the rockers.
Click to expand...


I use a drill, and rotate it by hand until they line up. That way one shaft a time is completely lubed.

To each is own......
 
We all do it differently, as long as it works.

I pour oil in the pump intake then turn it over to draw it in, then bolt it to the cap.

When you go to fire it, it draws instantly, the way it would and does every time you start it up after the break in and for the rest of it's life span.
 
i do the same with the oil pump...sort of pre-prime...
 
I have installed many agresive hydrolic cams in 340s throughout the years and have always soaked and pumped up the lifters before assembly. No problems @ all, and as a matter of fact some of the lifters still tend to bleed down from valve spring pressure (regardless of make MP, Comp, or Linati)while engine is turned over to adjust the valves. Can not see a pushrod getting bent unless someone has adjusted the valves to tight, or are running a larger cam than valve length or spring higth can handle. Just in my oppinion, and experiances i have never seen this happen. Like anything else, there is usualy more that 1 way to skin a cat. Rite or wrong? Whos to say as long as it works and you dont burn anything up in the process, all will be good.
 
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