My 71 Duster work in progress

[b-body-bob]

I took the one lifter apart, didn't find anything that shouldn't be in there.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Any "good" lifters out there or will they be chinese and last about a week!

 

[b-body-bob]

Dwayne Porter (known machinist) chimed in with the idea that this might have nothing to do with the lifter at all. Instead it might be something that's causing low oil pressure that's making the lifter seem collapsed.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Oh dang, just went down that road, I'm hanging out at the LOW end of the range!

 

[b-body-bob]

I had 20 on the gauge, it shouldn't have been as bad as it was. Something's up. I'm going to put the lifter, pushrod, and rockers back on and hit it with the priming stick to see if it builds oil pressure next.



I found a fan too, one of the 18.5" 2-1/2" pitch ones. $100, and I'll need to buy a new clutch for it. That's more of a fair price, keeping it under $200.

 

[b-body-bob]

I put the valve train back together, turned the pump with a drill, and I have over 80 PSI (working alone so I had to video the dumb thing)

The questionable lifter pumped up but it didn't hold - it bled right back off to nothing not long after I stopped with the drill.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

I would call that a win, better a bad lifter than an oil pressure problem!

 

[68R/T]

The questionable lifter pumped up but it didn't hold - it bled right back off to nothing not long after I stopped with the drill.

Uncle Tony did an episode a while back about all the cam/lifter issues. A big part of the problem, according to him, NO ONE is remanning lifters. The only thing out there is "rebuilt" lifters. The problem arises if you take a worn part and re-machine it, the tolerances create a looser fit, allowing rapid bleed-down. You may have to try several to find a good on. Luckily you found it before it could cause cam damage.

 

[b-body-bob]

Uncle Tony did an episode a while back about all the cam/lifter issues. A big part of the problem, according to him, NO ONE is remanning lifters. The only thing out there is "rebuilt" lifters. The problem arises if you take a worn part and re-machine it, the tolerances create a looser fit, allowing rapid bleed-down. You may have to try several to find a good on. Luckily you found it before it could cause cam damage.

I don't know if buying a new set will help if that's the case. There might be even more defectives in the new set. Or the next set might be soft or machined wrong and get eaten by the cam.

The hot ticket according to many on FBO is to use old lifters and have them refaced. That sounds exactly like what UT is warning against.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Hmmmm, what if you buy a new set & just replace the bad one, you'll have many in reserve to try one at a time if it's no good?

 

[b-body-bob]

I dunno, having many in reserve doesn't help if it eats the first one I replace and scatters metal all through the engine

The things are so simple there's not much that can go wrong, and there didn't seem to be anything unexpected when I took that one apart.

I probably should take them all apart in case it's another lifter causing this one to starve for oil, but I felt lucky that I didn't lose any parts from the one I did disassemble.

This is the front lifter on the driver's side, pressurized oil flows from the back of the engine to the front, so maybe that's a problem? I was thinking about going ahead and putting it back together but I think I need to look into the oil flow before that?

 

[b-body-bob]

I just checked and the front two lifters (1E, 2E) are the only ones that have bled off overnight. 2E isn't completely flat, but 1E is.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Is there any way to test outside the engine?
At this point I would just buy new & put them in expecting good stuff, and add a prayer with the way new stuff seems to fail more often than not!

 

[b-body-bob]

Is there any way to test outside the engine?

I don't think so. I was glad when I remembered that I could test the OP without starting the car.

At this point I would just buy new & put them in expecting good stuff, and add a prayer with the way new stuff seems to fail more often than not!

You keep coming back to "new stuff seems to fail more often" don't you?

That's why I'm trying to stick with what I've got.

I'm also hesitant to just throw money at it because that never ends in my experience. Look at how I've chased the cooling problem (that still isn't solved)

 

[68R/T]

The hot ticket according to many on FBO is to use old lifters and have them refaced. That sounds exactly like what UT is warning against.

The issue that Tony alluded to concerned the internals. You can reface the contact surface, but there is no way to rebuild the internals. On that episode he did state that he ended up getting 3 sets to make 1 good set.