OK, the weather has cleared up, it's warmer and I'm back on my 84 Z project. Now, these lifters are being very stubborn about being removed. Do I need to get the lifter removal tool suggested in the manual, or is there a better way?

 

Assuming you arent reusing them... grab them with some pliers and see if you can get them out. Lifters get a coat of varnish near the bottom, and thats what prevents them from coming out. You can try spraying some solvent on them too, but you dont want to go too crazy with that if you arent tearing the whole engine down.

 

If you're changing the cam, just pull them up enough to clear the cam; then push them back down carefully while holding sometihng under there to catch them so they don't fall down into the lower part of the crankcase.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

That reminds me...

I read in a magazine about using an old christmas paper cardboard tube or similar, and cutting the top open to catch the lifters. I dunno if that would work, but hey... sounds like a good idea.

 

I won't be resusing them. I just don't want to end up forcing anything, when you force something, unless you're very familiar with the way it works, it breaks.

I'll try the solvent and pliers.

Thanks again.

 

You can grab the edge with some vice grips and turn the lifter side to side as you pull up. You may have to pull up, then push down, then pull up, over and over again to get them free.

Each time you pull up then push down, the lifter should come out of the bore a little bit more.

Jake



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1986 Corvette Coupe, 415 CID, Edelbrock 6073s, ZZ9

 

So in another words, "hold your mouth right".

When I was a deisel mechanic, the big boss man would come in when you couldn't get something off or on to help. He'd usually get it done in a snap, and when asked how he did that so easily, he'd reply, "You gotta hold your mouth right."

 

What madmax said is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about... as long as you can get all of them up out of there enough to allow the cam bearing journals to get past, they'll always go down even if they won't come up.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports