cutlasskid84

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum here. I've got an 84 cutlass with chevy 350. About six months ago I installed a comp cams 262xe cam and matching lifters. A month ago I moved about 100 miles away, and after I drove the car here, I started noticing a slight ticking noise, which seemed like it was coming from the passenger side valvetrain. I took off the valve cover, checked the springs(no damage found), wiggled the valves to check the guides for looseness(they seemed okay). Put it back together, readjusted the valves, but the ticking was still there, starting to get a little louder. I removed the intake, and the found that the intake lifter on #8 cylinder is stuck in its bore. It comes about halfway out and is stuck. I tried grabbing it with some pliers and twisting it back and forth to get it unstuck, but no luck. I wanted to get some opinions on what's going on here. Could damage be done to the lifter bore, the lifter, the cam? What should I look for, and are there any tips for freeing the stuck lifter? Thanks in advance for help and suggestions.

69chevy

A friend of mine rounded out his cam because of the wrong lifters. About half of them were stuck like you described. One in particular took me about 2 hours to remove. All that I did is kept spraying it with wd-40 and keep wiggling it back and forth. It might take a long time but that's the only way I see it coming out. The lifter I took out scratched the heck out of the lifter bore only because the cam flared the bottom of the lifter outwards. Just my two cents.

cutlasskid84

I just got the lifter out by twisting back and forth and working it out. The bottom is now concave, and the edges are sharp and flared. I guess this means I need a new cam and lifters. As stated previously, this was a comp xe262h cam with matching lifters. I liked the cam's performance, but not sure if I want to try another. How can you tell if the lifter bore has been too badly damaged?

johnjzjz

I know its a pain but the oil pump and the motor bearings may ( MAY ) have metal pumped throught them --- cleaning the pan out new pump and a good washing of the motor may fix it, pull two easy rod caps close to pump and last crank bearing cap to look if it was wrecked ( the bearing inserts )--- that was cast iron from the cam and hard steel from the lifter ( also ) if you have a snap gague with a mike or better a bore gague measure it ( the lifter bore ) to see if it egged shaped, and you can use a brake cylinder hone to clean up the lifter bore use mineral spirts ( paint thinner ) as a motor flush not gas, or just put it back together and hope it doesent do it again, we always epoxy a couple magnets to the valley of the block top to catch this sort of thing something to think about next time moroso sells a kit sbc bbc its like 15 bucks jz

cutlasskid84

i'm pulling it right now, and building a stroker

johnjzjz

if any others are stuck dont take them out till the cams removed will save the lifter bores tap them out in motor after its all apart jz

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (8)

Anytime you do a cam swap and use a spinning type lifter, you should hone the lifter bores. Wheel cylinder hones work very well.

cutlasskid84

I read in another forum of a guy who had the same thing happen to him after he changed his oil with mobil one.
Guess what oil I put in my car right before the ticking started.
He said he had read that synthetic oil MAY not allow the lifter to spin in its bore. Just a thought.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (8)

I doubt the Mobil 1 was the culprit. It wasn't in my case. Anyway, I went through the same thing you did. Install went fine, can ran great for several hundred miles. Power slowly dropped off over a period of weeks, and eventually I found a rocker that barely moved. Turns out I wiped a lobe and lifter. This was on a Comp XE274 - in the same line of cams you have. Its actually a common problem with these cams. Not due to machining or metallurgy problems, but from improper engine setup/build. Because of their aggressive ramps, the valvetrain needs to be in perfect working order. A sticking lifter or one that won't spin properly will cause this condition. Again, a quick cleaning of the lifter bores with a hone should fix your problem. What block casting # do you have? Some mid 70s blocks were junk, and caused all sorts of problems with lifter alignment, starter problems, etc.

seawolf18

iTrader: (18)

I have also read that your are supposed to break in the cam with dino oil, then switch to synethic. I dont know how mutch water that holds since all the old school small block I had I only ran regular oil in it. Also, I read an article in June 06 Hot Rod magazine about today's conventional oils and flat tappit cam failures.

69chevy

I've heard the same thing but am not too sureas to how accurate it is. I've always used regular oil in all my small blocks also.

AutoRoc

Happened to me TWICE with identical Comp Cam Nitrous 230/244 (274) cams. Wiped out a fresh engine and each cam was roughly $200 shipped. Fred in the warranty department never got back to me about some kind of refund, replacement, etc... Thanks Fred..