The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Help On 235 cu in Hyd Lifters

Hello All, I'm rehabing a 59 235 and converting from solids to hyd lifters. I know the 59s cam with Hyd I think but this was a freebee block and partial rebuild before I inherited it and I didn't know what cam it had so I changed it out for a hyd one. The question is about the lifters. Do I have to take them apart and fill with oil before I can install them. And if so what's the longivity of the oil lasting until I get around to starting the engine. It will sit for a while as I don't have all the of the parts I need to finish the build up, I need a bell housing, flywheel a starter, fuel pump, a draft tube and what ever else. I would like to button it up and leave it set till I can scrounge the parts. Any sugestions?

Hydraulic lifters should come with a touch of lube in them. I don't think there's a need to fill them, as they'll pump up with oil as soon as oil pressure comes up when cranking, but you should prelube the engine by running the oil pump with a hand drill and adapter thru the distributor hole before attempting to start.

Ditto on the pre-lube, but you'll need to turn the crankshaft by hand a few revolutions while the oil pressure is present. That makes the pre-oil a 2-person job. Lifters are only capable of filling with oil while they're "unloaded"- - - -sitting on the base circle of the cam lobe. A lifter with any valve spring pressure on it will remain in the collapsed position and rattle for a while after startup until it fills with oil. Unless you can find a set of "new old stock" hydraulic lifters, you will probably be disappointed with the performance of a hydraulic cam. The offshore-made new lifters that are available these days are notorious for leaking down and rattling after a very short time, and some of them simply refuse to work when brand new. I'm a little crippled, but I think I could outrun anyone who wanted to GIVE me a truckload of new stovebolt hydraulic lifters. "Your mileage may vary" but some people insist on peeing on an electric fence to learn for themselves! It's possible to sleeve stovebolt lifter bores down a few thousandths and use Ford/MOPAR/AMC hydraulic lifters, but custom pushrods also have to be fabricated to do that.
Jerry

Ok Jerry, I will try and avoid the electric fence ! I had heard about the lifter issue but hoped by now that they had improved. I bought Sealed Power brand hoping that was the case. I will have this engine on a test stand after the rehab so if the lifter issue is still present I guess I can tear it down and go with a solid lifter cam. I wish I was able to determine the cam type that I removed to replace with the hyd I might have been able to save some money and just buy new solid lifters if the cam was a solid lifter cam. I never could find any numbers on it if I recall. Is there a part number for the NOS lifters so I know what to look for on evil bay and else where?

Thanks Kevin on the pre lube issue.

If you have a degree wheel and a dial indicator, it's easy to tell the difference in a solid cam and a hydraulic. Just as the cam lobe transitions from the base circle to the lobe, a solid cam will have a relatively long area of gradual lift before the rate of lift increases. That's called the "acceleration ramp". A hydraulic cam has a much shorter area ramp, and the transition from base circle to rapid lobe lift is only about .005" or less. Support the cam bearing areas on V blocks front and rear, and use a dial indicator to measure lobe lift. It doesn't matter what name the lifter box has on it- - - -they all come from the same third world sweatshops. One of our resident number crunchers with a set of moldy old factory parts manuals can probably provide an OEM part number for the original lifters. Those lifters also require the use of a special set of pushrods with grooves in the bottom pivot balls.
Jerry