Lifter change

     Ever since I built this 235 engine for the 41, the valve train has been noisy.  I had chosen to use hydraulic lifters on the Comp Cams camshaft thinking they would be more trouble free and not require periodic adjustments.  However, I did some research AFTER the engine was in the car and discovered some comments  by some very knowledgeable people that the hydraulic lifters available today are inferior and allow the oil to "bleed out" when the engine sits for any length of time.  These same folks would only recommend or sell solid lifter camshafts. 
     Last week Tuesday was the last straw for me.  I left Fricano's Pizza and accelerated hard to merge with traffic.  When I got up to speed and backed off, the valve train was clattering like crazy!  It took quite a while for the lifters to refill with oil and quiet down.  So, my theory is this:  the lifters not only bleed down when the engine is off, they also can't maintain enough oil to offset the valve spring pressure when running at a higher rpm.  One article I read talked of air getting into the lifters and the need to grind a release slot in each lifter.  That type of modification is too inexact for my tastes.   Back in the late 70's I had built an engine out of used parts I had laying around and had decided to try running solid lifters on a used hydraulic cam.  That engine was a small block Chevy and I just set the valve lash to about .002" - .005".  Not only did it work, the car ran great!  Both the owner of the car and I managed a couple of bracket wins at the local drag strip. 
     A quick call to Comp Cams tech support confirmed the idea of running solid lifters on the hydraulic cam.  "Set the valve lash to .008"-.010" and you should be good" was the response.  So, this past Monday, I removed the clattering hydraulic lifters and replaced them with a set of new solid lifters.  I also had to change the push rods since the hydraulic lifters are shorter than the solids.  Luckily, the 1954 engine I have in storage was a solid lifter motor and had the push rods I needed. 
     The swap was very straight forward.  I removed the valve cover, side (lifter) cover, spark plugs, distributor, battery and vacuum advance line.  Next, the rocker assembly was removed taking care to not move the shims under the stands.  Out came the pushrods and lifters with the lifters kept in the order they were removed so they can be stored for reuse if necessary (NOT likely!).  I had rotated the engine by turning the cooling fan prior to removing the distributor in order to locate the timing mark at TDC for #1 cylinder on compression.  Once all the old lifters were removed and the old gasket material was removed from the side cover and valve cover areas, I poured some engine assembly lube/cam lube in each lifter hole to get some break-in lube on the cam.  Then I rotated the engine 180° and poured more lube down the lifter bores to coat the opposite side of the cam.  Another rotation brought the engine back to TDC for #1.  Each lifter was given a liberal coating of assembly lube just before it was inserted in the bore.  A small amount of assembly lube was then added to the cup on the top of each lifter to prevent galling the lifter or pushrod as they came together.  Assembly lube was also added to the top of each pushrod where the adjuster contacted the push rod.  The valves were adjusted to the recommended .008-.010" and everything was sealed up. 
     I finished the lifter swap on Monday but the weather was so hot and humid by the end of the day, I waited until Wednesday for better conditions before starting the engine and breaking in the new lifters on the old camshaft.  The car fired right up on Wednesday and I immediately adjusted the carb to keep the engine up around 2000 rpm.  Periodic varying of the engine speed was done by hand at the carb.  The oil pressure and water temps were good but I opted to only run like this for about 10 minutes.  I let the engine (and the garage) cool for a few hours before repeating the same procedure.  Once the engine was back up to temperature for a bit, I shut it down and quickly removed the valve cover and spark plugs to recheck the valve lash.  All was good and I brought all of the valves to a tight .008" clearance before putting all back together again. 
     I also discovered the cause of a small oil leak that had plagued the 235 since I'd originally put it together.  I kept seeing oil along the passenger side of the block just above the oil pan flange.  This oil would make its way back to the starter and make a mess of that side of the engine.  The cause was the lower screw that goes through the side of the block just below the road tube hole.  This screw is one of two used to retain a metal baffle in place under the road tube hole.  The screw is a coarse threaded metal screw and the oil followed the threads along the screw and outside the block.  Adding a little silicone to the screw once it was cleaned should stop the leak.
     I have a theory of how the hydraulic lifters may have adversely affected the hp on the dyno run but I'll save that for another day's babbling.
  

Some sadness

Not much has been happening on the car scene.  The weather the end of June and the first week of July made driving without a/c an impossibility.  We had several consecutive days of temps over 100° and the 41 stayed sheltered in the garage.  The wife and I did manage to attend a show on July 4th despite the high temps primarily because it was only 15 minutes from our house.  72 other car nuts made it out too.

Back in 2011 when I started this blog, I mentioned good friends, Butch and Jan.  They were the folks that persuaded my wife and I to attend the 28th St. Metro Cruise back in 2010.  Well, Butch had a stroke last Thursday morning and he passed away late Sunday night.  He was 63 and a great friend.  I'm gonna miss that guy.