just rebuilt the engine in my 66 350 horse, car had correct type cam and lifters with not alot of miles on them so with todays poor chinese parts I chose to put the same cam and lifters back in because the looked and were working great. now the motor is together and one lifter will not stop making noise! any way to rebuild this one lifter or can I replace with new lifters without having to dig the cam out of my now installed detailed engine compartment. new lifters on old cam= possible cam going flat??
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Re: C-2 hydraulic lifter
darren-----
First of all, I'd check to be sure that the foot of the lifter (the part that interfaces with the camshaft) is in like new condition. Any sort of wear, at all, at this point indicates a camshaft problem and you'll need to then replace it.
If the lifter checks out ok, what I'd do is purchase another identical lifter and transfer the internals from it to this lifter body.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: C-2 hydraulic lifter
Did you install each lifter back in the same hole so it mated up with the cam lobe that it lived with during it's first life???
When rebuilding an engine, if you have even the slightest thought of reusing the cam and lifters, be sure to organize the lifters so they go back in the same hole and mate with the same lobe.
The OE cams and lifters are quite durable and it's not unusual to see the lobe height within OE tolerance or only a few thou wear and no significant lifter wear, in which case they are okay to use AS LONG as the original mating lifter is installed in the same hole so it ends up with it's original mating lobe.
I think this is overlooked by most guys, so you end up with different lobe/lifter mates, which can cause trouble. If the lobes are okay, and you mix up the lifters, just buy a new set of lifters. It's okay to use new lifter with a used cam as long as lobe wear is minimal - no more than a few thou below shop manual minimum spec.
Beyond the above, I agree with Joe. Try replacing the "bad" lifter with a new one, and keep your fingers crossed that all the others mate successfully or just install a whole new set of lifters. Put some assembly lube on the lifter feet and lobes and do a cam breakin. Given the relatively low cost of a new lifter set, and assuming that you mixed up the lifters on assembly, this may be the most prudent course of action.
DukeComment
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Addendum
By the way, you can obtain a reproduction of the GM '151' manufactured in the USA by Crane, Comp Cams, Federal-Mogul and others. They're very high quality pieces.
Also, you can obtain excellent, USA-manufactured lifters from any of the above and also from GM.
However, I would not "write off" Chinese-manufactured parts. As I've said before, they've made dramatic improvements in quality in the last 10 years. They now have some of the best and most advanced steel manufacturing facilities in the world. You're going to be seeing a lot of Chinese-manufactured components in US-manufactured cars in the near future, including some that are already there.
Also, keep this in mind: a lot of compromises have to be made these days with US-manufactured parts in order to "compensate" for the high cost labor to produce them. This often results in quality problems. The Chinese have no such problem, so a lot more "hand work", attention to detail, and quality control can be put into the product---the kind of things that went into US-manufactured products of old and made them the standard of the world.
We don't have to like all this; but I do feel the need to "give the devil his due". Do I like to use Chinese-manufactured parts? Definitely NO. But that doesn't make them bad; it just means that I have an unreasonable and unwarranted prejudice towards these parts.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: Addendum
Joe, Our little American company has a Chinese partner who sells our stuff in China and also does some contract manufacturing. Our problem is that 95% of the parts they make are perfect 95% of the time. The 5% that need rework or are scrapped cost us a lot of money. Their QA system is a copy of ours and although they are hard working and sincere they haven't "got it" yet. I'm sure many of the outfits have. After all, almost all of the Japanese electronics firms have huge facilities in China with practically zero quality problems.
We're very proud of our "Made in America" quality.Comment
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