Noisy lifter question?

[stangsteeda]

Here is the deal, we rebuilt a simple 302 with all STOCK VALVETRAIN , STOCK CAM AND STOCK LENGTH PUSHRODS. Motor started up and ran fine, after a few hundred miles it developed a lifter/valvetrain tick. We used a garden hose and determined the noise to be located in valve cover and could also be heard in the upper intake.
So our first attempt was to retighten the stock rocker arm fulcrum bolts. No luck noise was still there.
Our next action was to pull the stock lifters to examine them. We discovered we could not compress the piston after the motor not being ran for like two weeks so we thought there was no way they should still be pumped up. We continued to disassemble them clean and rebuild. They felt great after rebuild and we then let them soak overnight in oil and installed them only to find the noise is MUCH quieter but still there much more than our other stock valvetrain 5.0's.
We are about to have the customer buy a new set of lifters. But I wanted to get some other opinions on this to see if there is anything else I should consider. Nothing appeared to be severely worn in the valvetrain so I am stumped.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

[rsw007]

were the heads shaved? you my need to shim some of the rockers.

[stangsteeda]

nope heads are bone stock e7's

[capriracer86]

IF IT HAS STOCK ROCKERS THAT ARE HIGH MILES THEY COULD BE WORN OUT AT THE FULCUM.....MY 89 HAS THAT PROBLEM CHECK FOR SIDE TO SIDE ROCKING....JUST A THOUGHT GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[stable]

Was the block cleaned and washed?New oil pump and pan? If not, it could be picking up some small pcs. of old oil..... Varinish.

[stangsteeda]

I will check for side to side movement at the fulcrum this weekend. And the block was bored .030 over and hot tanked and we changed the oil after pulling the lower intake off due to some coolant contamination. We did install a new oil pump and reused the original pickup after thoroughly cleaning it. thanks for the help guys!

[silver91hatch]

Are all the lifters pumping up now? or you might have a bent pushrod. Just some ideas.

[stangsteeda]

pushrods looked straight when out last and I have not torn it back down to see if they are pumping up now

[badass1993]

What kinda lifters did you use??? I have had a few problems with Crane lifters doing that,from time to time......and IMO if its not Crane lifters it better be motorsport's any thing else just isnt worth it

[stangsteeda]

They are the factory lifters with miles on them. My main question before buying new lifters is since the lifter moved freely before being pumped up does that mean the lifter is acceptable for use or is there something else that would cause a lifter to be bad and make this noise.

[skeet92lx]

are you using a high volume oil pump or just a stock replacement piece?



might want to swap in a new set of lifters, sounds like they may have issues, maybe the valves in them are allowing them to pump up too much or not enough?

[stangsteeda]

stock volume

[stangsteeda]

thanks capriracer86 and all others, swapped on a set of much lower mileage rockers I had lying around and the noise is gone. And now on the bright side I have a brand new set of unnessecary lifters lol.

[capriracer86]

HEY IM GLAD I WAS ABLE TO HELP U OUT!!!! ;D