Re-using Used Lifters on Another Cam

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nm9stheham

nm9stheham

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Not a super important topic.... So I was on another auto forum (where there is less motor expertise than here), and in response to my comment to not ever put used lifters on another cam, this was posted in support of re-using used lifters on another cam.

"The reality is that you do risk a chance of problems but if the lifters are flat on the bottom, it will work. Done it at least a dozen times with no trouble. Even NEW lifters on a used cam can fail, and miserably."

So does anyone claim this level of success with re-using used lifters on another cam? I am wide open to experiences and thoughts. (I suspect this re-use was with stock springs but I really don't know.)
 
Now that's an idiot. Cheap as new lifters are. EVERY SINGLE camshaft manufacturer says not to use used lifters on a new camshaft.....and it makes perfect sense. Don't do it.
 
I know of a couple people who mixed the lifters up on their solid cam and it ran fine.
Truth is the lifters aren't really flat on the bottom there's like a .002 dome on solids.

It's something I'm not looking to try, cuz if it fails... it's like dumping a couple paint caps full of iron dust after porting a head into your engine.
 
Let me just say, I've done things with used parts and it always worked out. well not always, but most times.
But then again, I used wheel bearing grease years ago to break in cams. lol
I don't like to argue, so I keep my endeavors to myself and let the masters hash it out. lol
 
i have reused lifters but ROLLER lifters. i have used new lifters that wiped a cam lobe also, and new lifters that did not. Although the ones that wiped a lobe needed some new cam bearings.
 
If it was a stockish cam and valve springs, the lifters were low mileage and still convex on the bottom and I was on a really tight budget I might consider it. Anything high lift and or with stiff valve springs I would not.
 
I hate to do things twice. I don't like taking avoidable risks when it comes money, time and labor. I usually try to wait until I can afford to do things right. Now that being said, while waiting to afford to do it right, and the commies are coming over the hill...
 
Ah no. I hope I am never so poor that I have to reuse lifters. Or toilet paper for that matter! :rofl:
 
I've done it several times with no adverse repercussions, but they have been in stock engines with oem spec cams and spring pressures. I would not recommend it to someone else, though, because I know the risks and am presumably able to live with the blame/results.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
I know of a couple people who mixed the lifters up on their solid cam and it ran fine.
Truth is the lifters aren't really flat on the bottom there's like a .002 dome on solids.

It's something I'm not looking to try, cuz if it fails... it's like dumping a couple paint caps full of iron dust after porting a head into your engine.
Click to expand...

That's right. It's one of them "I ain't for sure if it'll work" things so why take the chance?
 
nm9stheham said:
Not a super important topic.... So I was on another auto forum (where there is less motor expertise than here), and in response to my comment to not ever put used lifters on another cam, this was posted in support of re-using used lifters on another cam.

"The reality is that you do risk a chance of problems but if the lifters are flat on the bottom, it will work. Done it at least a dozen times with no trouble. Even NEW lifters on a used cam can fail, and miserably."

So does anyone claim this level of success with re-using used lifters on another cam? I am wide open to experiences and thoughts. (I suspect this re-use was with stock springs but I really don't know.)
Click to expand...

I would try it, put it under the heading of "The acquisition of knowledge" that's how you learn. It's true it could be a total failure, or it just might work.......if you don't try it you will never KNOW.....To KNOW, implys certainty.........it's a worthy endeavor to try it
 
Got the TShirt.

Some years ago I installed used solid lifters (from 2 different sets too), on a used hydraulic cam, and drove some 3+ years with that setup.
I figure-8 the lifters on fine emery paper, put paste on the cam, and some additional cam break-in additive in the API SJ oil and re-broke in the cam/lifters. No issues.

Would I do this when building an engine for someone else? No.
My own stuff when in a pinch to get it running quickly? Would probably again.

The important issue here is lifter-rotation.
 
BigBlockMopar said:
Got the TShirt.

Some years ago I installed used solid lifters (from 2 different sets too), on a used hydraulic cam, and drove some 3+ years with that setup.
I figure-8 the lifters on fine emery paper, put paste on the cam, and some additional cam break-in additive in the API SJ oil and re-broke in the cam/lifters. No issues.

Would I do this when building an engine for someone else? No.
My own stuff when in a pinch to get it running quickly? Would probably again.

The important issue here is lifter-rotation.
Click to expand...
I haven't tried my similar adventures like that in almost 30 yrs, so I don't know what effect todays oil formulations would have on it. So yeah, you'd probably want to take precautions like that, nowadays.
 
Is every engine block including the lifter bores blueprinted from the factory? And since they aren't, isnt there going to be variation even if the lifters are in order?:poke:
 
Lifter Shmifter.....make sure it's hard-ened, lube it and stick it in the hole! That's how we did it in the 60s....FREE LOVE:rofl::mad::soapbox:
 
Thanks guys. Honest replies IMHO. This was for flat tappet lifters (.842 Chevy size), no info on the engines, but probably stock stuff, with similar spring pressures as in SBM's .

The context was that a new guy to engines was considering putting some the used hydraulic lifters from his old head into a 40 year old head with a solid cam that had been setting for 30 years. I was saying no way you should do that and then foolishly said it would have a '99% chance' of failure.... trying to make sure this new guy got a sense of the risk. Then the person I quoted above claims to have done it successfully ' a dozen times' but with no description of the setups, and seems to equate new lifter failure as somehow as likely too.

I can't in good conscience let a new guys put his engine at risk. And I have asked how one would qualify a used lifter to be adequately good to re-use; not sure what to think of that matter.
 
Poor people have poor ways. Did a lot of things in my youth that I wouldn’t do today (guess I could expand that beyond engines). Back then I had a lot of time & not much money. Putting cars together from junkyard parts was a lot of fun & a challenge. If I screwed it up & had to do it over, that’s what I did. Learned a lot from my mistakes. I was proud of figuring out how to make things work.

It was a much simpler life then & I miss some of that. All this perfectionism our society seems to obsessed with takes the fun out of stuff.

Money and risk are at opposite ends of the spectrum. If you have a lot of money, you don’t need to take much risk.
 
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