Got a 350 chevy in my Landcruiser. A napa motor, thats been real good over the years. Got a lifter thats bleeding off after sitting all night. Will stop ticking after it warms up. Going to pull the intake and replace the lifters. Is there any procedure I need to follow, like running the rpms at a set RPM like breaking in a new cam? Or just set adjustment and fire the beast up? Nothing fancy, just an older Chevy with Hydrulic lifters, Kevin.

 

You really should replace flat tappet cams at the same time as the lifters, but most of the time you can get away with it. Yes - you will need to follow the standard break-in procedure again to allow the lifter to wear in a little to the lobe without wiping it. You also need to use a diesel 15-40 at least for break-in because they are the only non-syn oils readily availible that will protect the cam during break-in. That or see if you can get some GM EOS at the dealership.

 

It's a risk, but the (presumed) wimpy springs and (presumed) non-aggressive lobes will help. GM Rotella (cheap) or Brad Penn Break-In oil are good options. I bet someone who is a real lifter expert could make some comment on the brand of lifter best for this situation. I seem to recall hearing something about that once.

Rich

 

I always run the gm brand "hard foot" lifters that were run in taxi cabs and police cars, anything with lots of idle time. They usually work really well for me, I havent run a cam company lifter in about 8 years. Mostly because nearly all of them I have found to be junk for one reason or another its a long story, but thats what i suggest.

 

okay, thank you gentlemen, I'll look into the taxi lifters, and get some rotella 15-40 oil when I swap them out. I thought I would have to run them at a higher RPM to break them in. Gotten use to the roller lifters, been a long time since I've played with this older stuff. But I love my old Landcruiser, and I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment from it. One for slow, and 1996 Z28, for go, Kevin.

 

You need the GM zinc additive to break them in which most oils over the counter don't have now a days.

I would put some Marvel oil additive in it and run it for 500+ miles before I did all that work.