Jase01

G'day everyone,

I've got no problem with the Johnson product as far as I know, I just thought if I put the brand in the title I'd hopefully attract the right people for advice. I tried searching but couldn't find any specific info, sorry if this is a bit long.

I've got a set of Johnson 2126 LSR link bar lifters with axle oiling going in my LS1 build and have found something I'm not sure about. I "cooked" them a couple of times in 5W30 synthetic as per Tony Mamo's advice on here, let them soak overnight and slid them into the block after draining the excess oil off and they moved freely enough after bit of initial wiggling.

After torqueing the heads and while installing the rockers on number 6, I found the intake lifter won't return without pressure by hand when turning the engine over and feels a bit grabby when doing so, it's not super tight but certainly firm. A small pen magnet down the pushrod hole won't move it when it's on the base circle but moves the others without rockers fitted no problem.

My engine machinist ran a small hone down all the lifter bores during machining and when we checked clearances at the time, the expectation was about .0025" which is more than Randy's recommended .0015". I don't know if torqueing the heads could have distorted the block just enough to give this problem.

I really don't want to pull the head again or pull it down completely so I am hoping someone on here has encountered this before and could give me their thoughts on whether it's ok to run. I suspect the clearance will probably increase enough when the engine's hot but I won't chance it if it's likely to do damage. If it was just a stocky I probably wouldn't care less, I'd just run it but I've invested a bit in this build and don't want to risk hurting it through stupidity or laziness.

I'd greatly appreciate the thoughts of the experienced members on this site, many thanks in advance if you can help out.

Best wishes,
Jason.

98cherrySS

iTrader: (2)

Why rush? Did the machinist use a deck plate when he worked the lifter bores? Regardless, I'd pull the head and investigate. Measure the bores and lifters again. Check to see if either is out of round. Make sure the link bar isn't binding. If nothing jumps out, perhaps relocating to a different bore pair may make the difference. If you choose not to investigate then the only thing you will know is that you don't know what the problem is. It could be nothing or it could grenade after startup... or 1000 miles down the road. Figure out the problem and enjoy you peace of mind.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Any chance there is a small burr on that lifter? If you are like me, I would hate to pull the head again but would always wonder if the motor is got a problem that may show itself down the road as a major issue. Like previously recommended, I would pull the head and investigate further.

Also, I would contact Johnson and ask for their input.

Havoc40

Unfortunately we run into this a few times with stock blocks. If you had .0025" clearance on all lifters (depending on where it was measured) there wouldn't be an issue at all. My suspicion is the bore isn't round or there is some slight taper. With the axle oiling lifters, we try to keep things right at .8420 diameter so you don't lose much oil pressure. If the lifter is sticking, that means there's some sort of interference and needs to be taken care of.

Give me a call at the shop and we'll go over options. Probably the fastest fix would be me sending out a pair of lifters that are touch smaller....somewhere in the .8415 range usually does the trick.

Tony @ Mamo Motorsports

Jason,

You should have caught this during a dry mock up prior to final assembly.

Check twice measure once and all of that and actually fitting lifters in a dry clean bore gives a better idea of how well they fit. They should slide smoothly with no drag.....sometimes on tighter bores an oiled lifter can actually drag lightly because cold oil isn't as thin as warm oil. Ideally an oiled lifter should still glide in the bores but sometimes there is a taper, or a burr where the galley intersects the lifter bore or sometimes a burr on the actual lifter itself that needs to be quickly addressed with a small file. I normally check all my lifters for fitment and mark the cylinder with a sharpie during mock up and prior to final assembly and the "hot oil bath".

Looks like Havoc40 has you covered (Randy is that you??......LOL) but its a good lesson to those reading to check fitment during mock up when your handling piston to valve checks and all that sort of thing.

Regards,
Tony

Havoc40

Yessir!!

He hasn't called the shop today. Give him a shout and have him call my cell. I'll get this squared away ASAP.

Tony @ Mamo Motorsports

Randy....he is in the land down under.....LOL

Its best to PM him I would think.....cheaper for all involved and the time zones etc.

He's a good guy....I have helped him with numerous things in the past

Call him DB.....he likes that (kind of an inside joke!)

Jase01

Yeah, dumb Aussie here,

Thanks a million for the replies everyone, it looks like maybe a rookie mistake, I remember a lesson learned by work mates many years ago, measure twice, cut once, similar to Tony's point, I should always keep that in mind.

I certainly wouldn't chance running it unless Tony or Randy said it wouldn't be a problem. I'll pull the head (that sucks), see what I can find and go from there but from memory it slid ok in the bore before I bolted the head up because I checked them all (it would seem not well enough).

I'll give you a call after I have another look Randy and see what we can work out rather than pull the short block apart again.

Many thanks again everyone and thanks for the kind words Tony.

Best wishes,
Jason (DB)

Jase01

Update,

I pulled the head which wasn't as painful as I thought, swapped the number six lifters over their own link bar to the alternative lifter bore (thanks 98cherrySS) and it's fine, there must be just a Bee's d!#k difference between the lifters and the bores. It was definitely slightly tight in it's travel area the other way around (I swapped it back to double check) which I obviously hadn't picked up on well enough beforehand but now all I can feel is the oil drag and otherwise they both feel good.

I double checked the others and did a couple of swaps just to be extra fussy and they're all good too, with hot engine oil they should be sweet. I'm waiting on another head gasket (I'd rather not reuse the current one) I will double check them once the head is torqued up again just to make sure but hopefully I have dodged a bullet.

Many thanks again for the thoughts and advice, it was hugely appreciated.

Best wishes,
Jason.

98cherrySS

iTrader: (2)

Smart Aussie for sorting it out now.

Tony @ Mamo Motorsports

Jason,

You can reuse that Cometic gasket....especially in a never fired engine. That's half the perk of using them. Did you see any transfer of the top (black) sealing layer on either the block or the head deck? The answer to that question should be no. Trust me its not an issue.

You can spray it with high temp copper high tack spray if it makes you feel more warm and fuzzy this time around.

Anyway....its probably too late to get this advice but I also posted for the benefit of others in a similar situation.

Good job on the (user friendly) lifter swap.....it was the right move and didn't cost you any down time to speak of.

Cheers,
Tony

Jase01

Thanks Tony,

I had given it a light spray with some Hylomar in the first place and it came off ok. I was pretty confident I could probably reuse it with no problems but I would prefer to just start from scratch (like your sig says). The new one will be with the courier as we speak so I'm committed now, at least I will have a spare for future mock ups if I play with an LS again.

I gave Randy a call overnight to have a quick word about it all, cool guy, really helpful.

Thanks again to everyone for the help and advice.

Best wishes,
Jason.