Thread: Questions About Hydraulic Lifters

I was reading about the Comp Cam lifters ZZP sells here:
https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_...=109&catid=104

They say in their text that the OE-R lifters are pre-loaded and have to be installed between 1/4 and 3/4 turn instead of the stock lifters 1/2 to 1-1/2 turns. What in hades are they talking about here? What is there that has to be turned on a lifter? They make it sound like you are screwing in something or adjusting it but I have taken a lifter for our car apart and there is nothing that is adjustable like that.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

This improper location results in open valves and therefore leads to lost power. OE-R lifters are preloaded and have to be installed between 1/4 and 3/4 turn (vs. 1/2 to 1.5 turns on stock lifters)

So those turns are of what? After you torque it? I dont quite grasp what they are speaking of.

Scotty, this is mainly for solid rollers, or djustable rockers.(pre 97 engines) where you have to set your preload onto the lifter.

when you are tightening down the rockers in proper order. ok. you are on a certain cylinder. with your fingers you are spining the pushrod...and tightening the rocker nut. as soon as the rocker stops the pushrod from able to be turned...you are say at zero. for the specific preload of the lifters.. say they are OE-R's..you would then tighten down the rocker an additional 1/4 to 3/4 turns instead of stock. then tighten down the retainer set screw to keep tension on the locks.

with the new shaft style that are in our cars..there is really no way of setting it as the factory torque specs for the rocker bolts...they are not adjustable.

so you dont have to worry about the specific preload unless you have adjustable rockers....in our cars.

hope this helps....

Ummm, yeah, that helps tremendously. I was kinda concerned there as I have been taking my lifters apart and cleaning them out (will hopefully have them cryo treated) and I was concerned that they needed to be put back together in some special way that was not aparent to me.

But I have shaft mount rockers so I guess its not an issue. I also read information on Crane Cams that tells you NOT to soak the lifters in oil before installing them as it may affect how the lifters pump up. They said it was better to stick them in there dry and let the pumping action of the lifters and the oiling system set the oil in the lifters. In otherwords, putting them in there dry gave them a better fit or load.

I didnt see any information like that on Comp Cams, but I dont believe I seen anything in the FAQ's that asked if the lifters should be soaked either.

Originally Posted by archemedes

so just a bit of assembly lube on the outside is all?

Thats how I took it. I'll dig up that question and post it here just so everyone can see what they were saying.

Here we go:


Do Hydraulic Lifters Need to be Primed with Oil?
Many people mistakenly believe that hydraulic lifters must be soaked in oil overnight and be hand pumped up with a pushrod before installing into a new engine, however this is not necessary. In fact, this could cause the lifter to act as a ?solid? and prevent obtaining proper preload. What is very necessary is the priming of the entire engine?s oil system before starting up a new engine for the first time. This is done by turning the oil pump with a drill motor to force oil throughout the entire engine. Crane Cams offers oil pump primers for Chevrolet and Ford engines.

I wonder what your next question is going to be.........

^ I bet its going to be how to prime our motors with a drill. LOL

They (ZZP) needs to update their web site, and they need to quit copying and pasting what the maker says on everything.

With solid lifters, yes, you need to soak them for 24 hours in oil before they get installed. I still do this on my hydraulic lifters, like we have in our motors, but one or two dry turns of the motor, the oil is out of them, but they still have a film of oil left behind on and IN them to offer some protection.

But yes, like said above, the preload turning is only needed if you have adjustable rocker arms. You are adjusting the valve lash with the rockers, which also preloads the lifter.

Honestly, the OE-R lifters are crap. You don't need them unless you spinning 7K with your motor. Maybe, not even then. I ran them in my build, and removed them later that year, only after 2K miles or so of use, because they were just too damn noisy, and for the money spent on them, I see absolutely no benefit to justify buying them. Though, the web sites that sell them will tell you "why" you need to buy them and use them. You can choose to believe what you read or hear from them. I got suckered into buying them myself.

I bought a set of used, low mileage rockers that came out of a 2004 CompG from ED, and I installed those, and didn't have to change my 1.7 adjustable rockers lash with the different lifters, everything stayed the same. They are so quiet, and smooth sounding compared to the OE-R's. I have the OE-R's sitting back in their box, getting dusty on my shelf. I doubt I could even give these away. LOL

~F~

For what its worth, I bought a set of low mileage L32 lifters because I heard on more than one occasion the same thing you said about the OE-R lifters Farns.

So now that its been brought up, I just turn over the crank a few times and that will get the oil flowing through everything?

Turning the crank over a few times wont build pressure.

It has to be spinning/running for a second or two before pressure starts to be made.

~F~

Oh, okay, and I guess my next question will be then how does one do this on an L67?

What? Build oil pressure?

Not "really" needed.

On a rebuild, I will coat all the bearings with GM's Assembly lube, and for the oil pump, it gets packed with Vaseline. I used to use white lith. grease, but after its ran for a while it turns the oil a milky color, which is normal, but then you worry you may have leaky head gaskets or something.

The only other things that get lubed are the rocker tips, where they contact the valve, and ends of the push rods.

As soon as I do start the engine for the first time, I will watch that oil pressure like a hawk, once I see it go up right away, then I know I'm sitting good.

~F~