well after rebuilding most of my engine so far cause the previous owner dicked up so much crap i realized while reassembling my valvetrain that one of the lifters is completely shot.. the cone part where the pushrod sits is as flat as kansas.. im replacing them all but was wondering if i needed to replace the pushrods as wel?? need advice quick! thanks

 

What do you mean by "the cone part where the pushrod sits is flat"?

 

in the center of the lifter, all the other lifters in my engine have the cone shape.. well funnel i guess would be better then at the bottom there is a hole where i presume the oil flows through into the pushrod.. well yeaa that part is flattt

 

Can you get a picture of that? That's not right, that part NEVER wears...Something is amiss.
Even more importantly, how's the cam look? And I take it you made very sure to keep the lifters matched with the lobe of the cam it came from?

 

I havent removed them yet.. its the one that doesnt have the pushrod in place.. cell phone pics but they should look alright.. the second pic is one that is correct, pretty hard to get a good angle tho.. ive been thinking that it might be a differant lifter perhaps?? Im not too sure about what parts of what engines the guy i bought the car from used in this engine but everything has been chewed up so far and Im not too pleased.. Any info would be great! I bought new lifters anyways and HOPEFULLY summit will get them to me tomorrow..

 

The cup is missing. No retainer clip, either.

Hard to imagine that happening to a running engine. More likely the lifter was taken apart and not put back together properly.

 

So new lifters will be alright then? This thing couldnt have came apart in my engine could it.. Also Im gonna have to break the new ones in correct? please tell me I dont need a cam.. This car needs to be done by Thursday night... HELP!

 

Sorry, my policy is to stick to the truth.

 

What will happen if I just use new lifters on the old cam??

 

I don't think anyone can answer that without knowing the condition of your cam. Get a mag base with a drop indicator and compare the lifts of all the lobes. If they are the same to each other within reason (all intake lifts, and all exhaust lifts) and the faces of the old lifters look visually ok I would use it again. If the engine ran in the condition the pictures show then I would guess the pushrod that was on that lifter is also junk.

 

all the pushrods are fine.. and it ran fine until the rocker stud backed out.. maybe thats what caused the cone to depart from its position??

 

Not likely.

Cam lobes and lifters "wear into" each other. That's why you need to "run in" a flat tappet cam.

You might get away with it, but you run the chance of wiping out either a cam lobe or a lifter if you put new lifters on a used cam.

 

will using a ton of lube and running it very gently for about 500miles help my chances of it being alright?

 

No

 

Well ive never replaced a cam before do i need any special tools? also can i do it in car by just removing the radiator? I need to have my car running by thursday so im trying to do this the easiest way possible..