lifters ????

[blackx 10]

How can you tell if the motor has mechanical or hydraulic lifters without tearing the motor apart

 

What's better hydro or mechanical and if I have a mech can I get a new hydro cam and lifter kit or vise versa to match without any problems or do I need to change some more stuff..\

 

And also when putting everything back together do I need to get new head bolts???

[Trinitys 134]

i would think that if you could push in the lifter with the push rod you be able to tell. machanical don't give .....hydralic lifterd are spring loaded and give about a 1/8 of an inch.

[buening 63]

Trinity is correct. As far as which is better, for a street car hydraulics are the way to go. Solid lifter cars need frequent valve adjustments and can begin to be a pain on a frequent driver. There are advantages to solid lifters, but are negligible on a street vehicle.

 

As long as the cam and lifters are both the same (hydraulic or solid), then you shouldn't have to change anything. Definitely get new headbolts if you have the heads off the car. Removing the heads is not needed when doing a cam swap though.

[69frd 10]

I doubt if lifting a rocker cover and checking for play in the lifter will reveal anything as once hydraulic pump up they will feel solid anyway.

 

Without knowing what style of rocker bolts its hard, because if you have positive stop studs the only way to tell is pull the inlet manifold off and draw out a lifter.

 

If they are adjustable studs then putting the motor on TDC and winding one of #1 cylinders rockers down will bleed the lifter if its hydraulic and leave some play but it does take 30 sec or so to bleed; if its solid it will just open the valve. Don't forget to reset the rocker after though.

 

Good luck

 

Somtimes you just cant see the forest for the trees, if the rockers are correctly adjusted when you pull a rocker cover off they should all be firm if hydraulic or have some valve/rocker clearance if solids.

[buening 63]

You'll be able to compress the lifter by running the nut down on non-adjustable valvetrains too. The amount it compresses is called lifter preload, which will also tell you if you need shorter or longer pushrods that occurs from valve jobs or new cams.

[buening 63]

A good reference site on the lifter differences and lifter preload: http://www.cranecams.com/?show=techarticle&id=2