new lifters

[olman]

recently bought a 67 390 engine and pulled it down to see how much wear it had on it. I was pleasantly surprised to fine the stock bore and very little wear in the cylinders. the crosshatch was plainly visible. pulled the pan and crank and found the mains a little rough so had the mains and rods turned .010 under. pulled all the galley plugs and expansion plugs and gave it a good soapy cleaning. Blew it all out with my blower from my shop and wiped it all down with WD40. installed new cam bearings and measured the camshaft and came out to .515 ( 1.73). all journals checked the same a few maybe .001 .002 less. could not find any ID on the cam. anyway it will go back in with a new double roller set from Edelbrock. During all this I dropped 1 rack of lifters I had removed so I will have to put in a new set of lifters.
   Can anyone tell me what brand of lifters I should buy and what kind of oil to use to break in the new lifters. I have a case of Valvoline VR-1 Racing oil if that would do. Will put a Performer rpm on top with a C9AE-U carb that came with the engine.
   The guy I bought it from said it came out of a 67 Galaxie auto and said it ran strong . Gave him $650 for it.

[Stangman]

Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t put lifters on a cam that’s already been worn in with different lifters. A new cam is less than 200 dollars, it’s just a safer way especially if it’s a hydraulic cam.

[Nightmist66]

I've put new lifters on an old cam. Worked just fine. If you look closely at the lifter faces of the old ones and can still see a convex shape, I wouldn't hesitate. You can check them by holding one face up to the side of another and look for the crown while holding them to some light. You could even put two end to end and check for the same crown shape. If you find even one bad, though, just get a new cam and lifters. Just use something good like Isky Rev Lube on the faces of the lifters and the lobes and some good oil. Go through the typical break-in procedure like you would for a new cam and lifters. I am a little leery of some of the new cast cam cores coming. I think they are junk. I wouldn't hesitate to grab a 30-40yr old cam off the shelf and run it. JMO.

[wayne]

 I have run new lifters on a old cam with no trouble look at crower cam savers lifters they cost more but are worth it i think.

[dcm0123]

Might be worth considering a new cam. Now is the time to do it.

If the original cam in is still in the engine you may find out with a new design you can improve both gas and power.

When I looked at aftermarket cams in the 80's Crane was a big manufacture with a good variety of off the shelf cams depending on what your objective was. Not sure who the key players are today but may be worth your time to look into this.

[My427stang]

If you want to run your cam, Crower Camsavers....treat it like a break in though

[cammerfe]

I'm not a big fan of Moroso, (Too chibrolay oriented), but their moly paste (comes in a big toothpaste tube) is really great stuff for what you're thinking of doing.

Years ago, I got a truck with a 390 that was somewhat worn. I decided to save it instead of driving it to destruction, so I put together a replacement from stuff I had in the corners of my garage, and other bits-'n'-pieces I scrounged. I had a solid cam that had proven to be streetable on a shelf, and an old oilpan under a bench that had several sets of used shell lifters in it. I also had a couple of sets of the proper-length pushrods. I had a small piece of plate glass that I used as a flat surface for such trials, and I simply cleaned up about twenty of the lifters and looked for convexity on the plate glass.

I put the stick in the engine with the Moroso lube on the lobes and put a small smear on the ends of the lifters and also both ends of the pushrods. The combo worked just fine and I had a 390 work-truck that worked for me for several years before I finally pulled it all apart and re-built the original 390. At that same time I put a Volare front suspension under it---but that's a different story.

KS

[GerryP]

...
I put the stick in the engine with the Moroso lube on the lobes and put a small smear on the ends of the lifters and also both ends of the pushrods. The combo worked just fine and I had a 390 work-truck that worked for me for several years before I finally pulled it all apart and re-built the original 390. At that same time I put a Volare front suspension under it---but that's a different story.

KS

A lot of things we did in the "old" days would probably qualify many of us for prison time these days.  I'm sure you must have done the "figure-8" refinishing of lifters.  I recall sending pistons out to be knurled.  We lived on the edge back then, didn't we?

[wayne]

The old days in auto shop last two years of school we never kept lifters in order took them apart and cleaned them.People brought their cars in for us kids to learn on most got a valve job they sold kits rings rod bearings and a gasket set for 49.00 bucks. That was a big time rebuild no timing chain oil pump mains most times the engine was left in the car if the pan would come off. Should say 50 years ago people had less money to spend then today

[Falcon67]

Technically, with a good brek-in oil you should be able to run in a fresh set of lifters.  These days, it can go either way.  I've put in fresh on an old cams, no problem.  I've also re-used fully broke in lifter/cam setups after a normal rebuild and had the cam and a lifter go to hell in minutes.  I run strictly VR-1 racing in anything "not modern".  So I say - good luck, keep a careful eye on the break in and be ready to buy all over again should it not work out. 

[67428GT500]

I would use the Brad Penn/Pengrade break-in oil when you light it.  You might talk to a couple people who actually still cut their own cams. Randy Gillis and we Steve Long Racing Cams also agrees. I still run Kendal when I can find it. 

[gt350hr]

     If the valve spring seat pressure is under 100 the probability of losing a lobe is very rare. No problem putting new lifters on a used cam. they don't "have" to undergo the twenty minute "break in" procedure. No need for "break in " oil. I use an Extreme Pressure grease sold by Dart Machinery . It is in a yellow and green tube with the letters CD on it. Some of that on the end of the new lifters is all that is needed. For a new cam , I put the stuff on the lobes and let the cam sit for a day or two to let the grease absorb into the phosphate coating and pores of the cast iron. Haven't lost a lobe for over 40 years using this method , zinc or little zinc in the oil.
    Randy

[Nightmist66]

  I use an Extreme Pressure grease sold by Dart Machinery . It is in a yellow and green tube with the letters CD on it.

Is it perhaps CMD instead of just CD? I used that CMD on my last build. I like it MUCH better than the ARP moly lube. Has a much nicer feel on fasteners. Also used it on pushrods ends, etc.

[cammerfe]

...
I put the stick in the engine with the Moroso lube on the lobes and put a small smear on the ends of the lifters and also both ends of the pushrods. The combo worked just fine and I had a 390 work-truck that worked for me for several years before I finally pulled it all apart and re-built the original 390. At that same time I put a Volare front suspension under it---but that's a different story.

KS

...things we did in the "old" days would probably qualify many of us for prison time these days.  We lived on the edge back then, didn't we?

If you only knew. There was this time a cousin and I made glyceryl trinitrate, and used it to soak nitrocellulose...

KS

[Dan859]

[quoteThere was this time a cousin and I made glyceryl trinitrate, and used it to soak nitrocellulose.][/quote]
LOL!!!  I see what you did there)).  Don't sneeze!!  Seriously, if you already had nitrocellulose, why were you soaking it in that?  Looking for a bigger bang?