hourang

iTrader: (6)

Ok, we bought 2 15/16" rods and ground them down on one side and slid them in the front of the motor on my car(98), held the lifters up, removed the cam.

Skip fwd to today. working on my friends car(99), used the exact same rods, slid the rods in, they went in a little easier than my car, THOUGHT we had the lifters up. but since my friend is so paranoid he put a pushrod in, pushed down on the lifter while the cam and the rod were in the motor. Lo and behold, the lifter went down and hit right on the cam, we turned the cam and the lifter went back up, does this mean the lifters are sliding right past the rod tool? What do we do now??

P Mack

iTrader: (6)

How hard did he have to push to make the lifter fall? If I were you I'd either buy a strip of velcro to wrap around the rod or use pen magnets. I used a smaller rod than 5/16 with the velcro, it was either 1/4 or 3/16 and it worked great.

hourang

iTrader: (6)

Not at all, the pressure from the push rod on top of the lifter was able to make the lifter go up and down on the lobe. I have heard of issues with pen magnets, is the problem because I ground down a whole side of the rod?

P Mack

iTrader: (6)

Could be, i tried the 5/16 rod first and it fit really tight but I didn't do any grinding. I like the velcro better anyway cause it kind of puts pressure on the lifter cause of the springyness of the velcro and it's less than 5 bucks at walmart.

hourang

iTrader: (6)

The lifters keep going past my non-ground down rods, wtf??

HavATampa

iTrader: (49)

Hmm...ttt for you. I'm about to do the 5/16" rod trick too and would like to know what this means. You think it's different tolerances for different blocks? Do all the lifters seem to slide by the rod or just a few? Some guys say one side is usually a tighter fit than the other and only need one rod ground down. But you are saying both sides are a loose fit with rods that aren't ground down??

eallanboggs

iTrader: (1)

Do you know what the lifter looks like from a side view? It has a step in it that your tool fits in once you spin the cam to raise the lifters, but the step in the side of the lifter is longer than the width of your tool so this allows for some vertical movement of the lifter if you push and pull on it. If you put one of those magnets on a lifter that had its' cam lobe in its' back you could raise the lower the lifter with the magnet. The plastic lifter retainers do a pretty good job of holding the lifters up, but you have to feel pretty lucky to do the cam swap without using some sort of tool to hold the lifters up. Some guys get away without a tool time and again. Actually the plastic retainers are NOT there to hold your lifters up during a cam swap, but to keep the lifters from rotating while the engine is running. The fact that they can also hold the lifter up is just a side benefit. Your tool is only there to keep the lifters from dropping while the swap is made, not to act like a vise-grip. The amout the lifter can move is determined by the width of the step in the side of the lifter, approx. 1/2 inch compared to the width of your tool, approx. 1/4 inch. That means the lifter has a little bit of movement.

35th SS

iTrader: (2)

just do the russian roullette method and be done with it.give the cam a couple of spin to the left and the other way and your set.you can feel it when the lifters are all in the cup.cam spins freely.slide cam out put new one in and done.

GPowrie

I second the russian roullette idea and just get it done.

God of Thunder

i say stick with the rods. make sure you turn the cam as you slide the rods in so they go the full 18" and i would say that should work. good luck

35th SS

iTrader: (2)

just dont think about dropping a lifter.concentrate and hope you dont have an earthquake in your area.j/k good luck.

DaddySS

Exactly. Spin the cam, leave your tool in place, swap the cam and you're done.

v8maro

iTrader: (4)

I thought the lifters had a flat bottom?

HavATampa

iTrader: (49)

Our lifters have rollers and not flat bottoms like older styles. I know this isn't a stock lifter, but does the 5/16" rod grab the lifter where the red arrows are? Just trying to get an understanding of where the rods are actually touching the lifter.

DaddySS

Correct, the rod shouldn't grab them, just prevent them falling if they slip.

Brains

iTrader: (7)

The rod isn't intended to hold the lifters up -- they simply prevent them from falling out of the bore. You can still push the lifter against the cam using the rods, but you won't be able to push it out of the bore and have it fall into the motor. I verified it on my spare motor sitting on the engine stand

HavATampa

iTrader: (49)

Heh...wish I had an engine apart to see how the rod does this. It doesn't hold the lifters up and it doesn't grab them, the lifters can still touch the cam with the rods in place but it will stop them from falling out of their bores. So are the rods at a level lower than cam? If so and a lifter did happen to fall with the cam out and the rod stopped it from falling in the engine, how would you raise the lifter back up to get the cam in? I'm freaking confused now.
BTW, what are the holes for that the rods slide in, is it like an oil gallery or something left over from machining the block from the factory?

v8maro

iTrader: (4)

I think a Cross-sectional diagram would be sweet to see just how they are being held up.

P Mack

iTrader: (6)

The holes are slightly above the cam. There's a good picture on ls1howto.com. If the lifter fell but not all the way, you could just hold it up with a pen magnet to get the cam back in.

HavATampa

iTrader: (49)

LOL! That would be nice. I need pics to understand stuff. I thought I had a handle on this concept until hourang brought this thread up. BTW Jeff, how you doing on your problem? Didn't mean to rape your thread.