I know the very basics - you have to add material by welding, etc. I just want to know the details. Like what tools and procedures were usually used after you gobbed a big wad of weld to the top of your lifter? How many times should you end up****embling and disassembling the mess before it's right? And didn't some racers prefer a lightened stock lifter to say a Johnson because it could be made lighter and you don't have to constantly fuss with the lifters anyway? Can you even buy new solid lifters anymore? I got lucky, when I inspected my flathead some genius had installed a set of adjustable lifters before I got it. I'm just curious what I would do if I didn't have them.
Grim... I think you can get new stock lifters from places like Egge etc. My impression has been that you get new valves and grind them to length though, not the lifter. I thought the lifter was kinda thin and didn't like the heat/manipulation. That being said, I've heard it done both ways, just not sure which was the most common. The solid (actually "non-adjustable"... I think the "solid" ones are hollow aren't they?) lifters are supposed to be easier on the cam and allow the use of lighter springs but I'm not sure how much if any performance gains might be had. There is nothing wrong with adjusting the lash the old fashioned way though. That's how I was going to do it at first but my motor came with Johnsons also.
Grim, the old lifters were left alone and the valves were ground to set the clearance, that said the old lifters are the lightest of any. But they are thin on the top side, thats why they ran the tulip wider base valves. I have heard of guys that tried to run stg stem valves on the orgineral lifters and punched them through the lifter top. Best bet is to run adjustables with higher spring rates and let the old babies lay on the shelf.
Traditional was a blob of weld on lifter top, then grind to suit on valve grinding machine with holder. Nasty bad way for iggerant okie parts breakers was to grind hell out of the seat and sink valve to suit. Old valve grinding machines were set up to do the lifters and valves, and had an accessory micrometer device made in the shape of a valve that allowed you to measure direct from the newly cut valve seat to the lifter and then transfer your dimension dirctly to the machine. Adjustable lifters took over some time in the fifties when the cost of lifters became less than the labor cost of all the messing around need to adjust the nonadjustable. Racers carried on with primitive rituals because stock early lifters weighed very little. A horror we missed: The first few '32 Fords went into limited demonstrator production with one piece valve-lifter****emblies! This nightmare was fortunately recalled and all traceable parts scrapped due to a patent infringement problem. A few pieces survived--some were reported seen at Hershey once. I have an old service magazine detailing the hideous, grueling procedures for valve work, apparently written from advance Ford releases just before the recalls began. Valve sinking was necessary, and everything was horribly difficult. I think all '32 Fords would have been scrapped early in their careers if this mess had gone into actual sales production, and the flathead would be as common as the Kettering copper cooled Chevrolet today... Since you have adjustables, look over A-V8's procedures for improving adjustment procedures in his porting instructions. Flatheads fortunately need adjustment very infrequently, and the early mushroom valve stem jobs frequently go their entire service lie without valve adjustment. Another oddity: KRW made a set of manifold risers that allowed access to valves with engine running, primarily for tracing noise. I have half a set...
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