slverbullet

okay, so i was pretty stoked to get my new morels after having issues with my comp R's. extremely stout looking lifters in comparison. getting to the point, upon getting the lifters, i immediately soaked them in oil for a period of two weeks (had to wait on a couple more things before the install). when putting the lifters in, i noticed one set didnt want to fall into place as easily as the rest had. almost as if the set was a bit swollen. seemed really odd. but whatever. i let them soak some more while i put the rest of the lifters in and then tried these again. still kinda rough going in. all the other lifters slid smoothly in and out of their holes, these were kinda rough moving. i played with them for a bit and tried working them in the holes and they started moving a little better. i let it go and decided to just put everything back together. now that i got the motor up and running, this same set is giving me problems. they are pretty loud while running. theyre the only pair that have had to be adjusted from the initial setting. and now, i can tighten the 2/3 a turn preload by hand on one of them. i can also take and push down on the lifter with the rocker and pushrod and it will give way a bit. now it seems i'm only having trouble with the one lifter at the moment. could this be a bad lifter even though they came as a brand new set. the engine has run a total of off and on, about ten minutes with the new lifters. it is still not set right and is definitely noticeable with the engine running. is this not enough time to get this one pumped up? any other advice?

SStrokerAce

Dave,

The soaking of the lifters is done to help clean the packaging grease out of them.... or run them enough to get it all out.

Sometimes they will stick or they will work freely... if you don't wash parts off in solvent before you oil them you could have issues until they work all the anti-rust agent out of them.

Did you try to put that set of lifters in another hole? The lifter OD could be a little larger than another set by .0001 or so or the block could be a little smaller.

Bret

slverbullet

ah, i didnt wash the parts in solvent. so that could possibly be part of the problem.

but i did try them in every single set of holes and ended up putting them in the one that they fit easiest in. they were still a bit rough going in. so that kinda worried me a bit. i just found it odd that the ones giving me fitting issues were the ones giving me problems setting now. i could try letting them run a bit longer to see if they loosen up a bit. i just didnt want to take a chance in tearing anything up. so i thought i'd ask for some advice first.

so any recommendations as far as what to do next? do i just let it sit and idle for a while and work itself free?

SStrokerAce

It might be spongey because the anti-rust stuff on there is in the oil feed hole.

Bret

asudecat

I had this problem the other day while instaling my Morels.
I was like F*CK
but it turns out that it was the tiniest little nick in the llifter that was catching. We tried it in every hole.
We couldnt even see the nick but we took some emery cloth to it and it slid right in.
I dunno if that helps

1racerdude

If they are hanging and going soft they might not be coming back down in the hole and past the oil hole to get refilled. They would be off the cam to do that. That would cause a miss though.Well maybe not at idle if the valve is opening any at all. And the pushrod wouldn't be oiling.
Does that set of valves seem to be moving as much as the others? Is the pushrod oiling?
Never put in a set that tight...
Just some thoughts.

slverbullet

well, the lifters are functioning normally in the holes as far as the up and down motion goes. one of the lifters is pumping up normally and holding. the pushrod is oiling like normal. no problems there. currently, the only problem is now that the other lifter is not pumping up with oil, nor is there oil coming out of the pushrod. and its spongy enough to push down on the pushrod when the motor is off. i ran it last night for a few more minutes while oiling everything by hand with no success. i'm guessing i might have to tear the motor apart to see if i can see a problem with the lifter.

1racerdude

Sounds like it has hung up in the hole and not following the cam. It can't get back down to the oil hole to get refilled.
Boy that one has to be severly tight.
Yea the best would be to take it back apart and measure the lifters and get another pair that will fit.

slverbullet

no, the lifter is moving. with the valve cover off, i can see it moving with the cam. the rocker its connected to is moving like normal. just has a bit of a clack to it (due to the lifter not pumping up). it just wont pump any oil at the moment.

i think at this point and time that the fitment issue is irrelevant. i didnt really force the lifters into the hole. i had to work with it a little more and it didnt slide into the hole as easily as the other lifters did. it was a bit rough at first, but was a bit smoother after i had worked with it. if it had been much worse, to the point i thought it would be unsafe or work improperly, i wouldnt have left it in. the reason i brought up the issue was because it was an observation that i thought might be important to the story when i first wrote it. i apologize for the confusion.

at this point, i am thinking its either the anti-rust sediment blocking the oil ports or the lifter is just bad. i think at first i was upset and looking for a better answer as far as what could be done to rectify the situation. like maybe there was something that could be done to the lifter externally to get it working or some lifter trick i was unaware of. if anyone knows any cool lifter magic tricks, let me know! thanks all for your help.

1racerdude

Don't know--- Anyway I wouldn't have put it in if it was that tight and I think it is hung in the hole up above the oil galley and not getting refilled.
It just don't go back in the hole far enough to get to the oil hole. It won't if it can't fall in and if it is pumped down with slack on top of that, the valve spring won't push it back down.
If it can't get to the oil hole it won't pump up and the push rod won't oil,as you have stated. Just hope that if it is high in the hole it hasn't busted a roller from not following the cam and the cam coming around and "slapping"it.

SStrokerAce

Well before we say it's a bad lifter, TAKE IT OUT AND CLEAN IT FIRST!

If you have a set of mic's, measure the OD on that lifter and another one, they make these things to within .0003" so it might be on the high end, but I'm doubting that.

Bret

slverbullet

i'm gonna take it out and clean it. i'm not trying to give morel a bad name. once i take it out, i'll try and get the measurements on it as well. i'll keep you posted as to what the results might be. if its too tight, i'll let you know so that we can take things from there. i havent heard anything bad about morel's and this hasnt been a devastating problem, so i dont want to give the impression that i'm trying to drag their good name through the dirt.

Josh'95Z28conv

Any updates?

SStrokerAce

Yeah.... that one lifter was not getting oil due to a manufacturing defect so he got that issue resolved with a replacement set.

Bret

Josh'95Z28conv

Cool. Im going to order mine now. Should I get the ones with the cross bars, or not? If not, do I need to reuse the stock locaters? And either way do I need to reuse the stock holdown tray?