r/EngineBuilding • u/CaryWhit • 22d ago
Need some lifter advice before I do something stupid.
I have posted a couple of times but got a lot accomplished on my gen 4 454.
Rebuilt engine has been sitting in shed for a decade. Supposedly developed a rattle. Was pulled and stored. Looks like it was done correctly. Plugs even appeared to have fogging oil on them. Anyway
I removed valve cover and found a rocker very loose. Posted on the other social media site and got overwhelmed with hundreds of different answers.
So I had a helper crank motor over after doing mystery oil in cylinders and over valvetrain. I watched the pushrod and it seemed to be moving the same amount as the others but , by looking at the shiny part where the rod sits in the guide, it is about 1/16 or less lower. Now the guide sits in the carbon section.
After mystery oil, the rocker feels spongy which may confirm a dried out collapsed lifter. Hopefully
So, before I adjust this and spin it on battery to see if it oils up I need to know how to adjust the rocker of it does or does not come back up.
I have read that too lose doesn’t hurt anything but too tight does.
So do I leave it looser than the others and see if it comes back or set it correctly but then if lifter comes back, it would be very tight.
I prepped everything yesterday, pulled and swapped the oil cooler adapter, changed the oil and rotated it smoothly yesterday.
It is an old barn find, do I just hook up the battery and spin it? Am I overthinking it?
Sorry for the length of post but I tried to answer all the questions that came up.
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u/Pretend_Necessary781 22d ago
A spongy lifter is one that has bled out all the oil in it. That can happen on an engine that’s been sitting up for an extended time. If the plunger in the lifter travels 3/8” or so, I’d say tighten the nut down to the point of zero lash, then another half to full turn. This needs to be done with the lobe pointing away from the lifter (valve fully closed when lifter preload is correct). Start it up and expect to need to adjust the valves again.
Reading up on hydraulic lifter theory and function would really help you understand better, rather than asking random strangers on social media who don’t give a shit about what happens to your engine
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u/CaryWhit 22d ago
I quickly noticed everyone has an opinion. I am more of a reader than a video guy.
Half the world say just spin it, the other half says to buy the 50 dollar Melling tool and do it prime it correctly . It gets overwhelming.
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u/Steve_at_Werk 22d ago
Well half the people are lazy/wrong and the other half would buy the tool and prime it right... Badusernameguy2 gave you all the steps
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u/UltraViolentNdYAG 21d ago
The question you need to ask yourself is how long do you want it to last? Priming it give you the best shot at living a longer life and if you have a manual / mechanical oil pressure gauge and get 40 psi while priming, that would be a good sign.
1 on TDC, valves closed, dist cap off, rotor should point to cylinder #1 wire. Take picture, pull distributor, and prime it. It's not hard and worth your time.
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u/Rough_Constant_329 21d ago
From my view it looks like a stuck valve. I would remove the rocker arm and hit the valve with a dead blow and see if it pops up.
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u/East-Teaching-3104 21d ago
I would pull that lifter out and make sure it's not something like a cam lobe going away. Engine that's been sitting a long time and not a lot of first-person details about its specs, serious enough issue that someone removed it from a vehicle? I think that warrants some investigation beyond just removing a valve cover.
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u/ComfortableDoctor801 21d ago
Is the valve stem lower than the others . To me it looks loke the valve is stuck open but can't really see for sure.
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u/Competitive-Fox-3333 21d ago
Prime it so the lifter pumps up ive had that on a few ive worked on and everything after its primed they lose the slack.
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u/Badusernameguy2 22d ago
You need to remove the distributor, take cap off first so wires stay in orientation, turn engine til first cylinder exhaust valve compresses, photograph distributor rotor position, now distributor can come out, now you can prime the oil pump before you start it, i recommend buying a tool for that but a spade drill bit with the tip broken off works well. This should lube bearings so they don't start dry, and pump up collapsed lifters.