Oil soaking lifters???
[QUOTE=bww3588;12942344]do you tear your engine apart everytime you let it sit overnight and soak the lifters? no. the lifters bleed off over time when you have 0 oil pressure (everytime its off) and they pump back up when you start the engine.
never soak your lifters.[/QUOTe
Hey, I'm not sure bout your cars, but my lifters and any gm products lifters never bled down overnight, always have oil in them. I would be extremely worried if everytime i started ANY car and the lifters ticked for 30 seconds plus, which would happen if they did. Have you ever bought a brand new car that ticked everystart up??!! I've been a gm mechanic for 8 years and school. soak'em! and real mechanic will tell you the same.
never soak your lifters.[/QUOTe
Hey, I'm not sure bout your cars, but my lifters and any gm products lifters never bled down overnight, always have oil in them. I would be extremely worried if everytime i started ANY car and the lifters ticked for 30 seconds plus, which would happen if they did. Have you ever bought a brand new car that ticked everystart up??!! I've been a gm mechanic for 8 years and school. soak'em! and real mechanic will tell you the same.
Last edited by PAULZ98SS; Feb 24, 2010 at 10:25 PM.
[QUOTE=PAULZ98SS;12944901] maybe a mechanic that is set in his ways and hasent gone to school for 3 years to learn about High Performance.
the lifters dont dry up everynight, but they do bleed down to where there is preload. once they pump up, there is no clearence between the plunger and lifter body. when you are setting the valves, you cant check for adequate lifter preload with the lifter full of oil.
when i install my lifters, i will dunk them in oil and take the pushrod and push the plunger down once to get a little bit of oil in it to prevent a totally dry startup, but soaking them overnight will put too much oil in them to check for preload.
do you tear your engine apart everytime you let it sit overnight and soak the lifters? no. the lifters bleed off over time when you have 0 oil pressure (everytime its off) and they pump back up when you start the engine.
never soak your lifters.[/QUOTe
Hey, I'm not sure bout your cars, but my lifters and any gm products lifters never bled down overnight, always have oil in them. I would be extremely worried if everytime i started ANY car and the lifters ticked for 30 seconds plus, which would happen if they did. Have you ever bought a brand new car that ticked everystart up??!! I've been a gm mechanic for 8 years and school. soak'em! and real mechanic will tell you the same.
never soak your lifters.[/QUOTe
Hey, I'm not sure bout your cars, but my lifters and any gm products lifters never bled down overnight, always have oil in them. I would be extremely worried if everytime i started ANY car and the lifters ticked for 30 seconds plus, which would happen if they did. Have you ever bought a brand new car that ticked everystart up??!! I've been a gm mechanic for 8 years and school. soak'em! and real mechanic will tell you the same.
the lifters dont dry up everynight, but they do bleed down to where there is preload. once they pump up, there is no clearence between the plunger and lifter body. when you are setting the valves, you cant check for adequate lifter preload with the lifter full of oil.
when i install my lifters, i will dunk them in oil and take the pushrod and push the plunger down once to get a little bit of oil in it to prevent a totally dry startup, but soaking them overnight will put too much oil in them to check for preload.
I will paste what Comp cams has to say about this. Apparently the lifter won't fill up from soaking because the holes in them are so damn small. Here is the CC paste,
"It is not necessary to “pre-pump” hydraulic lifters full of engine oil prior to installation and valve adjustment. It is actually undesirable to do so as
the “pumped up” lifters will cause the valves to open during the adjustment process, rather than positioning the valve lifter plunger in its operating
position as it is supposed to do. “Pre-soaking” hydraulic lifters in a bath of engine oil is a good idea, but it is not mandatory. It does ensure that the
lifters are adequately lubricated on their outer surfaces prior to installation in the engine. It may also result in a quieter engine start up as the oil in
the bath may displace some air from the lifter’s plunger reservoir."
"It is not necessary to “pre-pump” hydraulic lifters full of engine oil prior to installation and valve adjustment. It is actually undesirable to do so as
the “pumped up” lifters will cause the valves to open during the adjustment process, rather than positioning the valve lifter plunger in its operating
position as it is supposed to do. “Pre-soaking” hydraulic lifters in a bath of engine oil is a good idea, but it is not mandatory. It does ensure that the
lifters are adequately lubricated on their outer surfaces prior to installation in the engine. It may also result in a quieter engine start up as the oil in
the bath may displace some air from the lifter’s plunger reservoir."
If you did, you would understand that Preload IS NOT a factor.
You can go on all day about how you build your engine by dunking the Lifters and not soaking them like the rest of us do, and how we are wrong for soaking them and bla bla bla..but it's not going to change what we think.
I've got no problem with your input or opinion..but if you are the one person out of the 10 others that doesn't agree and after the 3rd push it got no where, that's time to
with it. 
To the OP..soak em and build it up..
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Soak um, pump um, and put um in. If you can't set the preload something is wrong with the lifter! Most likely dirt! You realize when the engine is running the lifters are PRESSUIZED with oil! And still bleed off everytime the valve closes even turning 6k rpms!They are made to use with a certain amount of preload. YOU SHOULD adjust them WITH them FULLY oiled!
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My goodnes so many know so much. Pour oil over them and let it roll. I have built 5.0 roller lifter ford motors ls1 and I have never set them overnight in oil and never pumped them up. That's for Arnold scwarzeneggar. Maybe we should soak our main bearings in oil overnight too.
Last edited by butler; Feb 25, 2010 at 05:25 PM.
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Soak um, pump um, and put um in. If you can't set the preload something is wrong with the lifter! Most likely dirt! You realize when the engine is running the lifters are PRESSUIZED with oil! And still bleed off everytime the valve closes even turning 6k rpms!They are made to use with a certain amount of preload. YOU SHOULD adjust them WITH them FULLY oiled!
Do you know how to properly install the Rockers in a LS1?
If you did, you would understand that Preload IS NOT a factor.
You can go on all day about how you build your engine by dunking the Lifters and not soaking them like the rest of us do, and how we are wrong for soaking them and bla bla bla..but it's not going to change what we think.
I've got no problem with your input or opinion..but if you are the one person out of the 10 others that doesn't agree and after the 3rd push it got no where, that's time to with it.
To the OP..soak em and build it up..
If you did, you would understand that Preload IS NOT a factor.
You can go on all day about how you build your engine by dunking the Lifters and not soaking them like the rest of us do, and how we are wrong for soaking them and bla bla bla..but it's not going to change what we think.
I've got no problem with your input or opinion..but if you are the one person out of the 10 others that doesn't agree and after the 3rd push it got no where, that's time to
with it. To the OP..soak em and build it up..
tell me again you cant set preload with an LS1. im guessing you have never built one or you would know lifter preload on an LS engine is set with pushrod length.
im also guessing you didnt see the post DIRECTLY QUOTED from COMP cams. but you seem like a pretty smart guy, so im guessing you did. so this leaves me to assume you know more than the Scooter brothers that OWN comp cams.
1-800-999-0893. that is COMP cams number, i suggest you call them and tell them you want the CEO position becasue you know more than they do about lifters.
i dont care if 4000 people chimed in on here and said soak them, pump the up as hard as you can get them and tighten the rockers down untill the valve opens. its wrong... period, end of story. just because it works OK doesnt make it right. i kick my girlfriend in the **** and she cleans, but that doesnt make it right.
ill take 2 PROFESSIONAL cam and lifter manufactures opinions over all the shade tree supertechs in this thread any day.
so if your still going to sit here and call me, Comp Cams, Crane cams and everyone else who understands how lifters work, liars, then go ahead. your the one who looks stupid for disputing facts.
Soak um, pump um, and put um in. If you can't set the preload something is wrong with the lifter! Most likely dirt! You realize when the engine is running the lifters are PRESSUIZED with oil! And still bleed off everytime the valve closes even turning 6k rpms!They are made to use with a certain amount of preload. YOU SHOULD adjust them WITH them FULLY oiled!
explain to me how a lifter bleeds off when 70+psi worth of oil is flowing thru them when the engine is at 6k.
your right, they are made to run with a certian amount of preload, and if that preload isint there when you setup your vavle train, you have none when it is running. the lifter will pump all the way up and leave no cushion for the vavletrain like it is supposed to.
thats the point of preload, to act as a spring to make the valve train less harsh. ever wonder why solid lifter engines have that ticking sound and you always have to adjust the valves?
no, you just need to make sure you can push the plunger down when checking for pushrod length. you cant push the plunger down if its full of oil.
lots of good info. ls1tech 
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I am completely rebuilding my motor new lifters etc. Now I am wondering I am going with LS7 lifters and getting rid of my OEM ones How would I properly check pre-load to determine what length pushrods I need I would want em full of oil and pumped up right?
you set preload on the base circle of the cam. with both vavles closed. preload should be the same on both exhaust and intake.
I'm thinking that there are two issues/concerns when it comes to lifter-soaking as it relates to this thread.
They are:
1. pre-load/pumping-up (or whatever you want to call it)
2. oiling/soaking for needle bearings which the actual roller spins on.
I'm no expert and never have claimed to be. I just exercise common sense when it comes to mechanics and things of that nature.
I don't think that soaking the lifters will have a dramatic effect on pre-load. If you pump them up with oil, while soaking, then perhaps that will be a different story.
The op asked about soaking, they never inquired about pumping-up the lifters.
Commentary: I don't think that it would be detrimental to just soak the lifters at all...along with many of the local machine shops in my area that deal with these issues on a daily basis. Just my opinion...
They are:
1. pre-load/pumping-up (or whatever you want to call it)
2. oiling/soaking for needle bearings which the actual roller spins on.
I'm no expert and never have claimed to be. I just exercise common sense when it comes to mechanics and things of that nature.
I don't think that soaking the lifters will have a dramatic effect on pre-load. If you pump them up with oil, while soaking, then perhaps that will be a different story.
The op asked about soaking, they never inquired about pumping-up the lifters.
Commentary: I don't think that it would be detrimental to just soak the lifters at all...along with many of the local machine shops in my area that deal with these issues on a daily basis. Just my opinion...