in the past i always pre-soaked the lifters before installing them but when i opened the box today it said do not pump up lifters prior to install only cam lube was needed. claims if you pump up lifters it may result in engine damage. i remember the old timer woul tell us get a coffee can 1/2 full of 30 weight and soak lifter at least overnight, have things changed? feedback?
I know it doesn't take very long for the oil pump to fill the lifters. I imagine just priming it with a drill until it comes out of the rockers and you would be fine. That's all I ever did. I would probably do what the manufacturer of the product I am using tells me to do...
I just did the same. I called Edelbrock tech support when I found the new lifters had deeper cups than the stock lifters, causing me to buy longer pushrods. Their tech support explained that they were anti-pump-up lifters and warned me not to pre-soak lifters and to set them with only 1/4 turn preload instead of a half turn. In the end it worked out well, but they should include more information in their tech sheets. Oh, and by the way, if you're installing flat tappets, don't be too alarmed at the amount of metal shavings resulting from cam break-in. Mine were downright scary but it worked out fine. Be sure to use gobs of break-in lube and oil with zinc added.
I have no idea when or why the rules changed. I was taught to pre soak and pump, now its different. Best you can do is follow the suppliers instructions. If the paper say don't then don't. If the old timer drops his stuff off and says soak and pump then that's what you do. Just make sure you use weak springs for break in- that one little sentence translates to a whole bunch of ****ing work that you could write an entire book about.
My last set of morels were filled with some type of light mineral oil or something. I put each one in cranked down the rocker and watched the light oil come out of the lifter as the plunger went down, then I soaked them in 10-30. They were quiet from the get go. Did Edelbrock Tech say if it mattered if the heads were aluminum or iron as to the 1/4 turn instead of the 1/2 turn?
i'm going off printed sheet that was with cam & lifters. i will definitely follow manufacturers recommended instructions as replacing flat cam ****s but twice is in the "**** THAT" category!
old truck guys! all it needs to do is make a 16 hour round trip to get my 50 mercury and then it can die! gonna buy extended cab for some decent legroom.
Why bother asking silly ****ing questions then? Or bothering with repairs or worrying about cams going flat ? Or manufactures recommendations? Or cam choices ?
The explanation to me was that the lifter cups were deeper and the preload was less because the new lifters have less internal travel than the stock ones. This doesn't mean that everybody has to get new push rods because every job is different. I also swapped from pedestal rockers to studs, but I measured for pushrods with the stock lifters first. When I installed the Edelbrock lifters, the measurement changed. And the preload had nothing to do with the heads being cast iron or aluminum. The new lifters have less travel so they take less preload. If you crank them 1/2 turn you come too close to bottoming them out.
new one to me... i usually use a oil can to give um a shot or two into the lifter before install. But I've used Comp stuff lately Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
They must figure the average Joe isn't smart enough to figure out how to set the preload if the lifter is pumped up. Apparently they have been using this method for over 10 years. I've seen other threads on other forums from years back with that same instruction information.
I've been pondering this and came up with two scenarios as to why the change. One was the same as yours. The other is that the manufactures need to CYA about the cams going flat with out taking responsibility, Just imagine setting valves with the lifters primed - pretty hard to get them too tight if you know what you are doing. Now its a bit more difficult with them spongy. But if you ****ed up and set them too tight while spongy they'd **** some **** up when they primed. Maybe pumping them up in a can gorilla style screws up some inferior internals now.
Because i have never done it this way, always pre-soaked lifters and used liberal amounts of cam lube.
you know of course if you were using solid lifters in a vintage engine this question would never come up
Been looking at SBC roller cams lately. The cams are not all that bad but the retro-fit roller lifters are high. Thought a late roller block with stock lifters would be the ticket. Turns out there are not many performance cams that work with the stock roller lifters. Even in a roller block an aggressive cam will require after market lifters.
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