PlainwhiteZ28

I just got some 1/4" inch aluminum rod and will try that today.

Supposedly works just like the JPR tool. I hope so, the first time I used the pen magnets, and didnt really like them that much.

Mike94ZLT1

iTrader: (3)

How long is the rod? Please let us know how this works

jmX

WhitecamaroSS, sorry about your misfortune. The lifter is most likely in the oil pan....you may want to turn the motor over by hand a few times incase the lifter is sitting on an engine part somewhere inside.

Removing a head to reinstall a lifter isnt a hard job at all, you'll need to unbolt the header on that side (and the ypipe...uhg), and then the head is just held on with 15 bolts. It'll be a good 5-6 hours work, but its how stuff goes sometimes. I keep a spare set of head gaskets in a closet at home just for emergencies incase something like this happens to me.

The oil pan is baffled, so it may be down in the bottom portion of the pan. If that is the case, you may not be able to get to it easily at all. I know when a bolt falls in there it can be gotten out with a magnetic fishing pole you make with string and a magnet. A lifter may come out the same way. I suggest you do a search and find the threads from the previous times this has happened to others and see if they have some words of wisdom for you.

whitecamaross

i tried that magnet method and i cant hear nothing. i dont know it might be easier to remove the head and get it through there. i dont know what to do. it is a whole mess with my car. it is sitting outside on jackstands torn apart. i never thought that getting a lifter is that hard and for sure i wont remove the oil pan myself. its too hard to do. i am thinking about removing my head and fishing it through there. dont know what to do or think of. if i do the oil pan and i spend 10 hrs thinking its there when its not then thats just a whole day wasted and nothing done. i think its probably smarter to remove the head and see if i can get it throug there.

jimmy 2 Times

iTrader: (18)

how exactly did it fall i dont understand that? i have done 2 cam swaps and never dropped a lifter (getting ready to my third in 2 weeks so i want to be cautious)

i followed the directions on ls1howto.com and dont remember reading about magnets on your lifters, just magnets for the valve spring keepers.

can someone fill me in here?

Scalpel

iTrader: (4)

I'm 99.999% sure you are not gonna get it that way. Drop the oil pan and get it instead of wasting more of your time.

66ImpalaLT1

You can reinstall the lifter when you have the oil pan off, and you do not have to remove the head.

Drop the pan, its the only 100% sure way to get it out.

1CAMWNDR

iTrader: (21)

This is why I will do my cam the old fashioned way, by removing the heads and taking all of the lifters out before removing the cam. I will probalby not even bother putting the plastic retainers back in.
Besides, I can smooth the intake and exhaust ports while the heads are off, and install bigger valves with a 5 angle valve job, and then blend the bowls, and enlarge the exhaust port..........

Scalpel

iTrader: (4)

The lifters are held in place by the plastic bores. If you remove the plastic bore/liners how do you plan on keeping the lifters in place?

01_SuperSlow

iTrader: (7)

Go to home depot and get rods size 1/4" or 5/16". You want it to be about 6 inches longer than your cam. It worked for me.
Still, before I pulled the stock cam out, I already had my new cam nicely cleaned and oiled, just waiting to go in. Then I spun the stock cam many times before I started taking it out, so it would lock the lifters. Put the rods in, took the stock cam out, and in less than 30 seconds, I was already sticking the new cam in.
LS1howto

WILWAXU

iTrader: (6)

A buddy did this..

The 2 that drop were sitting on top of the crank. He pulled the cam out and fished them through the cam hole.

Good luck!

Spinmonster

I would remover the valley cover and use a pen mag to get it from the top of the crank where it most likely is. Stick the pen mag in the openings at the ends of the block under the valley cover. This is my guess (90%). The windage tray would not let it fall to the bottom of the oil pan.

DrkPhx

iTrader: (15)

That's alot of unneccesary work just for a LS1 cam swap. I've done two LS1 cam swaps without pen magnets. You mention you will not use the plastic retainers; what are you going to use to hold the lifters in place?

70RallySport

The JPR tools are 84.00 and worth every dime, our plastic lifter trays arn't getting tighter with time.

Nightclaw

Exactly. I just put a camshaft in this past weekend, and in the 10 minutes the engine was sans cam, two lifters had slid out of their retainers and landed on the JPR tools (whew!). Say what you will about the price, and even though aluminum bar stock is cheap at Home Depot, the JPRs eliminate the guesswork completely.

Sorry to hear you lost a lifter, but it looks like there's plenty of advice already here to get it out. Good luck!

Scalpel

iTrader: (4)

So do the aluminum bar stock as mentioned and it's less than $2.00. Aluminum bar stock is a no brainer, IMO.

GueSS Who

Well, I have put over a hundred cams in and I would say that 1 out of every 20 installs, I will hear the lifters still hitting the cam lobe. I always leave the push rods in and watch them closely. If one is going up and down then I hold it with a pen magnet. If none of them move then I pull the push rods out in case of having the extra weight and pull the cam out and back in.

This did happen to me when I first starting working on LS1's back in 99. I had 2 of them fall. I pulled all the pan bolts and could not find one of the lifters.I pulled the alternator and the a/c to get the motor mount bolts out. I lifter the motor and found the other one way down in the bottom of the pan. PITA for sure. I then stuck the lifter on a paint stick with a pen magnet on the roller and slid it down the cam bore. I then stuck a pen magnet down the lifter bore until I could see the magnet in the cam bore. I then slid the paint stick back to meet the magnet and pulled the lifter up into the bore. Again PITA for sure. The last and final thing that sucked was that one of the lifters fell out of number 7. It took me all of about 8-9 hours to do the whole cam install where it normally takes me about 4. I think it was easier then taking the intake and heads (Yes it was one from each side) off. It was definetely more stressful.

whitecamaross

i got the lifter after 5 hrs of hard work. i fished it through the valley pan. do yourself a favor and dont ever ever ever try to take off your oil pan. it is worthless and alot of time wasted. do it through the top. my friend came over and took it out in one minute without sweat. and oh yea i swear i will never do a cam without the jrp tool. ever ever again. too much work just to get a lifter. right now my biggest issue is getting a used crank pulley. mine broke when i took it off

Krab

iTrader: (28)

For your next cam swap, be sure to use something like pen magnets through the pushrod holes to hold up the lifters. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll be going through this same ordeal. Those two cam swaps you did, the lifters were being held up by friction alone.

Spinmonster

Hey you didn't credit me for the advice. I ain't feeling the love.