i was swapping my cam for the first time and as i took my stock one out and was putting the new one in, one of my lifters fell!! this is my first time swapping a cam and i need to know where to find the lifter. a friend of mine told me that i have to take that head off and with a magnet i can pick it up. another friend told me that it is in the oil pan!! please, can anyone here tell me where it is?? i started unbolting my oil pan and then my other friend said that i am crazy that it isnt there that i have to take my head off. oh lord, can anybody here who has had this issue tell me where the lifter is ?? please, any help will be appreciated..

 

I would start with the pan for two reasons:

1. Gravity helps pull things down.
2. The heads are going to be a PITA.

 

If you loosen the oil pan, you should be able to drop it enough in the front to fish a magnetic snake(proper description) down into the pan and you should be able to grab it. As long as it didn't hang up anywhere. Good Luck and just take your time.

 

so it is in the oil pan? who can tell me for sure where it is?????? oh lord.. who has done this before and can tell me where this is???? i dont want to spend a whole day in the oil pan to find out that it is not there.. like i said before that someone told me that i have to take that head off.. i dont know what the hell else to do.

 

Man, that sucks.

A) Yes, if it fell all the way thru the lifter bore, then it's in the oil pan.
B) You'll need to remove the head on that side to re-install it once you get it out of the pan.

Better get you're new cam in there before anymore fall though. Then worry about getting to the lifter.

Good luck!

 

that sux, let us know when ya get it fixed....

 

your going to have to pull that side head anyway. should pull it and see if it is fell somewhere between the top of the crank and side rods. could of kept it from going all the way threw.

 

Did you read any install docs before you started this? Like ls1howto.com??

 

Yup, you'll need to fish it out of the oil pan as described above, then you'll have to pull the head to reinstall the lifter.
You are going to need the following:
Magnetic snake or something to fish out the lifter with
New head gasket
New head bolts

Make absolutely sure that you remove ALL of the antifreeze from the bolt holes or you will risk cracking the block. Most people here use plenty of paper towels and a shop vac or compressed air to blow out the remaining drops. Make sure you get the block and the head surfaces super clean and flat before reinstalling the head. Check out this link to help you:
http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=2

 

Were you just pulling the cam out and letting the lifters hang or did you have something to keep them up... like magnets maybe?

 

It would seem that a lot of people rely on the plastic holders to keep the lifters up in place...

 

And this is EXACTLY why you're not suposed to do that!!

 

Yes, exactly...

 

i had the pen magnets in place and when i took the push rods out i saw that the #7 cylinder had a bent one and so it happens that it was that particular lifter that fell out. . i have the cam in and all my lifters are in place but that one where the bent pushrod was. will i need gaskets for the intake?

 

no you will not need gaskets for the intake.

I'm sorry to hear this happened, it happened to me once as well, long story short..i did my cam and heads..put the cam in..my buddy needed the cam cuz his same one was backordered so i took it out and put it in his motor and put a stocker in mine..put my heads on..then realized oh **** when the new cam came in stock..and did the swap with the heads/lifters in hoping for the best and one fell..

we ended up fishing it out witha magent tool taped onto the end of my radio antenna..what was so rotten is this was last year when they didn't offer partial bolt/gasket packges..i had to pay 200 something bucks again to get the parts to do the heads again.

anyway, yeah, mine was in the oil pan..fell in a really bad spot and was a total pain to get out but got it out.

 

nope, they're reusable. just make sure you bolt it down in the correct order. look at www.ls1howto.com for the info. good luck to you

 

Was there something he could have done beforehand to prevent this? I'm about to do a cam swap too, and while I dont think I have any bent pushrods, I certainly dont want to deal with this. I was planning on doing the magnet method, but that JPR cam install tool is looking better and better right now...

 

get the tool if you can. i wish i would have done that. i have my whole taken apart for one damn lifter. i cant even fish it out as i have no clue where it is in the oil pan. i looked with a flash light and nope. nothing. i cant seem to find it. i wish someone here could tell me how the hell to fish it out because that is what is holding my install. that lifter is my whole headache for the past three days.

 

Dammit I just spent $30 on magnets. What could I use as a substitute? 90 bucks for 2 metal rods is retarded.

 

Autozone, napa, et should have a magnet with flexible shaft to sweep the inside of the pan with. It maybe easier to use a large (maybe older speaker magnet) to move around the pan until you can hear something moving/following the magnet.