Good thread. Very informative, and timely.

I would like to know this also.

Any options if you do not have a solid roller lifter or old hydraulic roller lifter to weld up. My lifters will only have 19k easy miles on them. I was hoping to reuse them or maybe sell them if I use LS7’s.


Not sure I understand this. Do you adjust the p-rod checker longer than installed p-rods for extra margin of error? If so, how much?

 

I have some "solid" lifters made up. I'll sell them for $10 for 2, plus shipping. and, you dont have to weld them. just dissassemble the lifter, fill up the reservoir/vlve area with epoxy, and reassemble. that way its not goin to move when you tighten everything and open a valve. the only problem with this, and someone correct me if my logic is screwed up, but after epoxying the lifter like this, the pushrod is now at no preload. so you need to add on the amount of preload your goin to use. so, basically, if you do the clay method, you need to add the preload (.080" is what Im shooting for) becasue the lifter will be that much "shorter", giving you that much clearance back. make sense?

for those whove done this, what did you do to keep the clay from sticking to the valve, or lifting off the piston? I cleaned the piston top really good, and use brake cleaner to make sure there isnt any residue that would prevent the clay from sticking. the, I use a thin film of wd-40 on the combustion chamber/valves so that when you bolt down the head and turn the engine it doesnt stick to the valves or comb. chamber of the head when you unbolt the head. its very frustrating when you go through all that, and lift off the head only to see half the fricken clay stuck to the bottome of the head, and the rest on the piston. or all of it on the head. GRRRR> anyways, also dont forget to add/subtract the head gasket thickness of the old gasket to the new one if your switching head gasket thickness. I reused the old stock .052" for my testing, and just subract .012" from the clay thickness.

and, no need to use test springs if you dont have them with the solid lifters as long as your not useing a p-rod length checker. you wouldnt want to bend the checker.

I have I think 12 lifters I'll sell. I bought a whole lifter set and just epoxied them all. Im keeping some for me, but I'll sell the rest.

 

I just put some oil on the piston and the head chamber.

Yeah i had to subtract .010 due to claying with an old .050 gasket and i am gonna use .040 for final engine assembly.

 

Ok, I took the retaining clip off the top of an old lifter and pulled the rod seat out and then pulled out the main body inside the lifter and drained all of the oil out of there. After I cleaned the spring and everything I just put it all back together and put the retaining clip in. So can I just tack weld the edge of the pushrod seat to the lifter itself to keep it at zero preload? If so im good to go to use my pushrod checker.

 

good luck tack welding that little thing AND not distorting the lifter. its a precise fit into the block. just take that clip back off, mix up some epoxy, put a little bit back under the main body inside the lifter, reassemble and your done.

 

yeah you have a point. i guess the epoxy is probably the easiest thing to do.

 

shared this with someone else, figured Id put i here too.


just make sure you gut the lifter, there's a little spring inside at the bottom, thats where the epoxy goes, in with the spring, to keep it from being able to compress. it wont take much epoxy and you gotta reasemble quick so the epoxy doesnt start to setup before you get it all back in there, and get that damn springclip back in to hold the cup in place. oh yeah, and make sure to reinstall that spring too cause you want it to return the top "cup" to the up positon while the epoxy cures.

chris

 

When you use a "solid" roller lifter, if you put in your p-rods they are obviously gonna be too long and skew your geometry. Using the adjustable you can easily make it shorter without hurting anything else.
While you're at it read your checker guage and add preload, you just figured out your p-rod length needed as well.

But really guys why not use a dial and do it correctly

 

Hey guys, i am fixing to have to check my PTV clearance on my engine. What is the thing about the adj. pushrod that I can use. Do you just essentially make the pushrod longer compensting for the lifter not being preloaded? Also, How do you measure the clay after you have done the process? Does the clay harden for you to put the caliper on it, or do you just have to try to put it on the clay very lightly were it would be right on the surface. If so, that seems like some margin of error, considering the 1000's of an inch we are talking about here. Let me know guys, I am trying to check this clearence because the orginaly owner, "Milled the heads as far as they would go without touching the pistons." he says. And I am looking at a bigger cam. Thanks guys.

 

you would make the pushrod shorter to make up for the missing preload. the clay will not get hard. you cut it down the middle of the "eye brow". as in, the eyebrow goes from the front of the engine towards the back. and your gonna slice in down the middle of the thinnest part. then, I use feelergauges to eyeball the thickness, then carefully take the clay off the head and use a micrometer.
search for the other way to measure for the clearance. I believe its more accurate, and will tell all. the only reason I did this way is because I put the dampner back on already, and was trying to aviod taking it back off. but Im goin to cause it will forever haunt me if I dont. and I really dont want to bend a valve, or worse break off a valve head and total the engine. search under piston to valve clearance or ptv clearance. it should come up in one of those threads.
it involves using a degree wheel, and setting the head up and taking a depth measurement every couple crank degrees and mapping the clearance. then you can tell exactly at what point in crankshaft degrees your closest point is, and how much clearance you have.

 

You can use a stock pushrod to do the clay test in most cases and its good to have the solid lifter. If you use the right amount of clay and oil the piston top and valves you wont have to worry about it sticking. You measure it by cutting the clay up into sections and measuring it with a dial caliper. If you use the right clay (modeling clay) it doesnt deform as easily as like play-doh does.

If he milled them as far as he could without hitting, you probably wont be able to get a bigger cam without hitting unless you get bigger gaskets or notch the pistons more.

 

yeah, I meant dial caliper

 

Not the roller Brad. The other end. Put a tack weld on both sides of the edge. The retainer and plunger. It will trash them. But use old ones.
I kept mine to re use for measuring.
Don't get the weld over the edge of the lifter as it will not slide down in there. You will have to grind the slag off of it.

 

yeah i figured it out yesterday, tacking the roller would be pretty stupid.

 

LOL, sorry it took a sec to catch this thread again.

 

LOL, I tried to epoxy one today and i jacked that up real good, i put too much in and the inner body would not go all the way in, then the epoxy dried. i will tack weld the next one and take the slag off.

 

see post 27. thats how I learned.

if you do weld it, just make sure that the weld doesnt interfere with the pushrod at all. make sure it stays in the center and all the way down for the most accurate measuring.

good luck.

 

Yeah, I did ALOT of searching and read up on the dial indicator method. I will probably go that route. Man, just doing this cam swap is turning out to be looking at ALOT of work. lol The things you sacrifice for power. Does everyone hate there car being down as much as I do? lol

 

nah, I love working/upgradeing my car. thats half the fun for me. my 95 has been running great, and havent really done much to it in the last year because of that, and Im dying to tear it apart to make it faster. I did a tranny/stall conv. swap this year. that was it.

and, it is alot of work, but its a big learning curve. once youve done it, next time around you know more about what needs to be done and it'll go alot smoother.