Stuck lifters! How to remove??? HELP!

Sounds like the lifters have either carbon rings build up on the faces or they have mushroomed.

For the first one pull the lifter up a bit then spray carb cleaner around it and work it in the bore.

You would be much better off to install a cam/lifter kit. Unless that cam is in perfect condition it will eat new lifters.

If the engine has more than 50K or so on it you would be way ahead to open it up and refresh it with new cam & lifters, timing set, new bearings, new oil pump and new rings at least.

Well the idea was that I had a noisy lifter in there so it just seemed logical to replace them all... I replaced the timing chain two years ago because it was one of those ford timing gears with the phenelic timing gears and it worked well so far. The reason i am so deep into the engine is that (of all things) the thermostate stuck closed and the engine started overheating. So pulled the gooseneck and inadvertantly broke a bolt. So off comes the intake manifold. Bolts broke off in the head. pulled the heads to get the broken bolts out... Since it was out did a valve job. So was just reassembling the mess and decided that since i was so deep into it I would replace the lifters... I have tried some carb cleaner .. but my technique must be wrong because it failed. The first lifter I took out looked suprisingly good. So I put some assembly lube on it and put a new one in there... the second one just seems stuck... I would be exceptionally supprised if it is mushroomed... expect the carbon ring as you mentioned... Not sure how I am suppose to get the carb cleaner down the bore of the lifter with the lifter in the way though... I took the one lifter i got out and sprayed it with carb cleaner and it got little or no carbon off of it. Is there some other chemical i can use that will really get in there and cut that stuff up so i can get the lifter out?

Thanks for your reply.

Try some carb dip, that's more aggressive than the spray stuff. Put some in a hand oiler and try to get it right on the "seam" between the lifter and the block casting, and work each lifter back and forth, put more on, etc.

If it's mushroomed, you'll probably have to pull the cam and oil pan and push them out from underneath, if More Force doesn't work :/ Do you think it's varnish/carbon or no based on the cleanliness of the rest of the engine?

nate

N8N wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

this is the normal way they are. just work them in and out while spraying them and they will eventually come out. KB

It rained all day today and i wasn't able to get out and try anything on the lifters. Looking at the one that I did get out yesterday I more or less decided that my cam is probably scrubbed and needs a replacement.

I expect the rings probably need to be replaced as well and the whole engine needs a rebuild. But I think I am just going to dig into it and replace the cam and leave the bottom end alone for now. The timing chain was changed a couple of years ago, but I will inspect it for wear once i get the timing case cover off.

I expect i will take some poster board and roll it in a half U and put it where the cam comes out and catch the lifters once they come through the bottom end and not allow them to fall into the oil pan.

Someone also suggested some vinyl flooring to serve the same purpose. just take the lifter puller and pull them up until they stick up the

2/3s then pull the cam and put the poster board or flooring into the hole and replace the cam and lifters together.

Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for all that answered!!

S.

I rebuilt a 352 and had to do it twice because of the phenolic. It had a spacer on the cam, and the new cast gear had it built in. I put the spacer back on and the cam was off. Chipped the cam and wiped the bearings. Didn't have a problem with the lifters. Depending on the miles, the main issue with the 352 was heads. You'll probably need a ridge reamer and hone if you do the bottom. I rented the reamer. Get it cleaned and miked at a speed shop and let them give you ring size. Have the crank polished and miked. Personally, unless the car/truck is something I couldn't let go of, I'd think twice, or three times about it now. Thirty years have passed. It was a '66 F100.