Update: Engine noise - roller lifter Another update 6/8/24

[fairlaniac]

So I pulled the intake to get a look at the overall situation. A magnet would not pull the #2 cylinder lifters. Mainly the exhaust. Upon inspection the #2 exhaust lifter was stuck in the bore. I used a pry too and once it broke free it came out easily. It did not drag through the bore. With it out I noticed the feed hole in the top has a piece of debris. The push rod ball is fine so I'm thinking it got caught there over the winter when I pulled the rockers to verify side clearances. I guess I did sloppy work. So, is it possible the oiling was stopped or minimized and built up heat and stuck? Could the clattering I heard be the lobe smacking the wheel as it was stuck? Ref. 427 solid lifter block.

The lobe has the wheel path mark but nothing catches the fingernail. It's smooth to the touch across the lobe. There is a shiny spot at the top of the lifter bore where it may have been sticking? When I oil the lifter now and run it in the bore, it will get stuck when almost all the way down.

The only debris was show in my earlier post. Double checking the filter I got it all on the magnet picture in the other post.

Other post for reference - https://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=12307.0

So where does this leave me? Can I touch up he bore in the car? Stuff paper towels in the bore first? Maybe a new set of lifters for sure.Thoughts?

Picture of debris in oiling hole.
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-debris.jpg

Picture of intake lifter without debris.
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-open.jpg

Mark on lifter that matches location of shiny spot on bore.
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-stuck.jpg

Spot on top of lifter bore
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-bore-spot.jpg

Cam lobe, tough getting a clear picture.
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-bore-2E-light.jpg
http://

[Jb427]

I hate to say it but are you not better off pulling the engine and cleaning everything. be nothing worse then having it happen more then once

[fairlaniac]

Upon further inspection it looks like the lifters on cylinder #2 both had debris in the oil feed hole. The Intake side debris is stuck, the exhaust side came out. As you can see in the pictures it looks like chips have been knocked into the edge of the lifter. When I was re-setting my rockers over the winter as I was rolling the engine over it got hard a few times and I heard a loud metallic crack. Looking into it, I determined I must have had the push rod on the top of the lifter and when I was rolling over, I thought the loud crack sound was the push rod coming off the edge and dropping into the seat. Well I guess that happened but it looks like it chipped the edge along the way and the debris worked it's way under the push rod ball.

So I'll assume without oiling, heat was generated and "stuck" the lifters?

I work in a steel mill that produces materials for places like ARP, Jet engine parts etc... so I have access to a lot of metallurgists. this morning I ran into work with my lifter, the "shavings from the oil plug magnet, oil filter and the chip from the oiling hole. The metallurgist called me a while ago and said over 95% of my "shavings matched the metallurgy of the lifters. So I'm thinking most of the "shavings" I have are caused by those three chips in the lifters?

I ran a set of the other lifters in the #2 bores and they slide find. I measured the #2 damaged lifters and there is an increase of size on the O.D. at the chips. .8738 is the diameter in most places. At the chip it is .8753 diameter. So there appears to be some deformation at the chip. Did the process of chipping the lifter slightly expand the O.D. at that point? On the outside of the lifter there are shiny, worn spots in direct alignment with the chips on the inside.

So I am trying to convince myself to get new lifters and send it or......................ugh, tear it out. My lifters are Lunati #72903.

Thoughts?

Pictures -
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-chip-1.jpg
http://www.fairlanet.com/images/lifter-chip-2.jpg

[1968galaxie]

I recall you had a Harland Sharp rocker arm failure previously.
Did you reuse the lifters and push rods after you replaced the HS rockers?
Perhaps lifter top damaged then?
The lifter damage would not happen from adjusting rockers and the push rod slipping back into place.
The lifter top damage would have happened during engine running with a rocker arm starting to break - huge pr clearance.
Anyhow excessive pr clearance and a running engine would cause this type of damage.

[fairlaniac]

I recall you had a Harland Sharp rocker arm failure previously.
Did you reuse the lifters and push rods after you replaced the HS rockers?
Perhaps lifter top damaged then?
The lifter damage would not happen from adjusting rockers and the push rod slipping back into place.
The lifter top damage would have happened during engine running with a rocker arm starting to break - huge pr clearance.
Anyhow excessive pr clearance and a running engine would cause this type of damage.

The broken rocker last year was #8 intake.
Maybe I accidentally set lash with push rod on lifter and ran it? I thought I'd notice a difference in how far an adjuster screw was out but maybe not?

[1968galaxie]

That certainly sounds plausible.
Hot rodding is fun, but also sometimes painful.
After taking apart my original 390FE (which sat on an engine stand for 30 years) I discovered a bad rod bearing.
When putting the engine back together I was cleaning the deepened oil pan - and noticed the pan was pushed up.
I vaguely recall using the pan to jack up the engine - big mistake - but at 18 what the heck did I know.
The pick up was touching the pan - OOPS!

[My427stang]

If you pull it down and find nothing, it would be a waste of time (and a gasket set)

If you don't and there is more metal floating around, or something broken, it'll be a waste of money if it eats something more expensive.

I don't like the idea of finding chunks, but all depends how lucky you feel

[Stangman]

I agree I would at least take intake off and take all lifters out and check all pushrods and cups on rockers. Maybe pull dizzy and check oil that comes out at mdifferent places and see if any debris are coming out. I know pain in the ass but you should at least do that. These motors are expensive I think you have to be careful.. JMO