[thinwhiteduke]

G'Day
I have a situation where I am installing a good condition used (approx 2000 miles) hydraulic cam and lifters (flat tappet) in a 350 chev. I have only experience with solid lifters and not hydraulics.
The cam followers have been kept in order (obviously ) and upon inspection I have noticed that most of them will allow the piston in the lifter body to collapse nicely under light pressure, but 4 or 5 of them are as hard as a rock.
My question is should I just install them all in this state? Is this normal, or is there some preperation that should be done prior to dropping them into their respective bores?
If anyone could enlighten me it would be greatly appreciated.
One guy said to leave them out in the sun on a hot day and let all te oil drain out of them...but I just don't know?
the camshaft is a comp cams 292H if that is relevant..
Duke

[75gmck25]

When I installed my lifters (new) I rolled them around in a plastic container of oil for a short time to give them a good coat of engine oil and then put the cam lube on surface where they were going to contact the cam lobe. I found a couple of references that suggested soaking the lifters in oil overnight, but other articles said that was not necessary. Everything seemed to work fine with my cam installation.

I think the stiffness of the lifter just indicates how much oil is inside the lifter. As long as they are the same height (not binding) I think it is okay. However, I'm no expert in this area.

Bruce

[delawarebill]

what i do.. get a bowl and put about 1" of oil in it.. set the lifter in and use a wood dowl to push the seat in... it'll suck the oil in after 2 or 3 pushs...

[F-BIRD'88]

Its not nessessary to internal fill the lifter with oil. They will fill as soon as you start the motor.. Just oil them up and install them. 0 lash on the heel of the cam lobe and ad the 1/4 to 1 turn preload adjustment. The valve spring pressure will make the full ones bleed down.

A reinstalled used cam+ lifter set has about a 50-50 chance of sucessfull re break in on a 2nd install on a SBC/ BBC.
Chryslers tend to be more tolerent on used cam reinstalls-swaps . probabily because of the larger lifter diameter.

Running lighter pressure stock valve springs installed at max installed height to give the least pressure will help things get re-friendly.

I use this stuff to aid cam+lifter and other internal engine parts break in.
www.molyslip.com E oil supplement.

Its got all the nessessary good stuff in it.

Then install the hi perf springs at the recomended installed height.

Make sure the rockers are pre lubed with oil. Many people overlook this.
The rockers (stamped steel or roller) are the last thing to see oil on start up.
A dry rocker can scuff, overheat and fail. The initiial reduced spring pressure helps here too.

[thinwhiteduke]

Thanks guys for your valued opinions, I thought as much re: the pumped lifters probably still full of oil from being on the heal of the cam at the time of engine shut down.
Thing is, now I've had a close look at the lifter faces, they aren't in the healthiest condition any way, with all but a few being 'lined' from what looks to be coil bind and one that has definitely not been turning at all..
Hence I have opted to go for a new camshaft (294S) as the rest of the engine is all new, and I'll be sure to use the ZDDP additive 'forever'!!!
Thanks especially to you FIREBIRD88 for your advice on my matter and also for your advice to countless people over the years regarding tuning using the 292H and 294S camshafts. Mate, you sure got some patience with some of the SOB's out there! ....BTW love the 'launch photos' on ur firebird (black, is that yours?) Mmmmmm! ......Looks like it hooks up REAL nice!!!

Duke