Arrgghhh! I'm fitting a new cam & lifter kit and having spent a day getting all the ancilliaries off I'm at the point of getting the cam out, but I can't lift the lifters - they come up about halfway and then stop solid.
I guess the base ends have mushroomed - is there any way I can get them out or am I doomed to reuse them (BAD idea).
('85 305 Camaro)

HELP HELP HELP!!!!

Malc

 

buy a lifter remover tool


or the hillbilly way......


pull up half way...clap down vise grips, pull out lifter....you're not reusing them so who cares right?

 

yep lifter remover tool and you won't have any problems. mine is made by k-d tools

 

I actually used a scribe to get my lifters out. It's a double ended scribe, one straight end, and the other has a 90 degree bend right at the tip, just right to get it in the lip of the lifter and pull it out.

 

Just make sure you don't scrape up the lifter bores. A quick honing might be a good idea afterwards.

 

It's probably just a sludge ring built up around the bottom of the lifters (especially if it's all the lifters). Shoot some carb cleaner on them and work 'em up and down while turning with a pair of vice grips.

 

I have two different style removers, an OTC and KD .I usually just pop a lifter up and grab it with pliers and twist and pull. The removers take too long to set and usually pop off on a sticky lifter.

 

Well, OK - I tried the vice-grips on a few (some left bank, some right, front and rear to get a good mix) - and I reckon I'm gonna do some damage because they are VERY reluctant. They do move, but it's a hell of a tug-o-war!
Question: just HOW hard can I heave before I have a junk block?
Should I drop the oil pan, lift the lifters up and remove the cam and then knock them back out hoping they come out the bottom?
Thanks for the info so far, appreciated.

Malc

 

Yes you can knock them out through the bottom, with the pan off. be sure to remove the fuel pump rod too.

You should hone the lifter bores after with a brake cylinder hone to ensure that the new lifters are free to spin in the bores. Other wise the new cam will fail.

Do not hone exessively. Wash the hone grit down with brake cleaner. Thouroughly clean up and lube the lifter bores with oil.

 

yeah i agree with mr. f bird 88, i always hone the lifter bores

 

And after you knock them through the bottom, count them to make sure you have all 15.

 

If I have a motor on the stand I turn it over and use a long punch and hammer and tap them out (you don't want to hit them really hard). With that method you have to be careful not to get into the lifter walls.

With the motor in the car I use the vice grip method. Either way you should hone them before the new lifters go in.

 

15


In the past, I've taken some really mushroomed ones out through the cam bore using a strong magnet on the end of a stick. If you happen to drop one though, you'll have to drop the pan to retrieve it.

 

HOLD THE PHONE!

Give this a shot.


Pull up all 16 lifters and hold them in place with a clothes pin.

Remove fuel rod (if equipped)

Remove camshaft

Make a lifter catching tool - this would consist of a 3 foot cardboard tube with a notch on the side at the end of the tube. Cap off the end so that a lifter cannot fall out.

Insert lifter catching tube and place the notched section by lifter of interest.

Remove clothes pin and catch lifter.

Remove lifter and repeat about process 15 more times.

 

Wow.
I never cease to be impressed! :hail:
I *like* the cardboard tube idea - dropping the sump (oil pan to you) is SUCH a bitch.
Let me check out what I can do and I'll be posting sometime over the weekend.

Cheers

Malc

PS what if I don't count 15 of them

 

Graphic of the tool, please see attached.

 

Sorry. Bad joke.

I guess I shouldn't mess with people that don't know a whole lot yet.

There are 16 lifters, not 15. Two per cylinder.

If you can't find one, that means it's either resting on a rod or dropped into the pan.

 

BTW, a73camaro, I like the idea of that lifter catcher, but would it make it easier to catch them if you just cut out a valley, then slide the "bottom" half of the tube in where the cam normally sits?

Of course you'll want to still use the end cap, that way you can just slide the tube out with the lifters already in it.

 

just an fyi, i've found that a pvc pipe cut open works better for catching the lifters, reason being the cardboard gets soaked with oil and falls apart, leaving you with mroe or of a mess....

Eric

 

I'm sure I haven't seen everything there is to see, but I've never seen a mushroomed lifter. Worn, yes, but the pattern is typically cupped, such that the material is removed more from the center. The bottom of a lifter is very hard material, so it isn't going to spread like butter.

99% likelihood that what's keeping them in there is as mentioned, sludge built up below the part that travels into the lifter bore. Forcing the lifter out by scraping that off with the bottom of the bore isn't going to damage the bore. Honing will require a complete block flushing, by the way.

Use of a solvent like carb cleaner is a good idea. Just working them out with a vice grip would probably be quicker - although using both would be the quickest.

 

AJ92RS - sorry, I was just flowing with the joke .......
16 it is!
A32Camaro - thanks for the tip, and others with the PVC tube idea, that's just what I did, with one small modification. I attached a magnet (from a 10w tweeter speaker!) to a stick so I could insert the tube and leave it in, just in case any lifters decided to fall, the tube would stop them. Worked a dream :lala: (see attached pic).
Many many thanks for all the help guys, just shows how a bit of collective experience and head-scratching helps.
Malc

 

Good ideas from all!