GNJ

New roller cam, rollerlifters and roller rockers installed in SBC. Unfortunately, I did not pump them up with oil before putting them in place. I did remember to prime the engine with oil by using a drill, rotated it, primed some more and then started it.
After a few minutes of running, I stopped it and adjusted each of the valves on the base circle of the cam. However, some of the lifters felt kind of mushy, maybe not pumped up and some felt hard and pumped up. When I restarted it, the valve train was still noisey.

How can I get the spongy lifters to pump up so I can properly adjust, without tearing off the intake? Anybody help?

1BIGJIM

iTrader: (1)

"without tearing off the intake?" Why would you do that?
I would never start an engine without the valves adjusted correctly. Any time I am doing a rebuild I adjust them on the engine stand before even pumping oil though them. This is an easy task, and people seem to make it much harder than it should be. Do a search on valve adjustment, you will find pages and pages. If the valves are still noisy after a few minutes you do not have them adjusted correctly..
JIM

GNJ

All the lifters on the left bank pumped up and did adjust.
I could feel how they pumped up when using the drill to drive the oil pump. However, several lifters on the right bank do not seem to want to pump up. When I start on the base circle of the cam and using a drill to drive the oil pump, #2, #4, & #8 intake and exhaust valves each have a spongy feel. meaning that I can push the pushrod back into the lifter. #6 intake and exhaust lifters pumped up ok. Can anybody suggest a course of action to try?

Daytona30mike

You need the right tool for priming. If you have an old distributor,
grind off all the teeth and stick it in the manifold with drill attached and it will build pressure to the lifters. If you are now priming with anything other than a TRUE engine primer or the distributor deal, you will build pressure but not to all the places that need it.

Let me know what you are now priming with.

Mike

GNJ

Daytona Mike: I welded a oil pump shaft onto a long bolt that is attached to a drill.
I ran the motor some more today and re-adjusted the valves three to four more times. They are close, but still getting a ticking noise on one side.

Gary

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

How long are you letting it run?

GNJ

After a bunch of trial and error, all the lifters finally pumped up and I managed to adjust them. It was weird because initially, some did not behave or adjust the same as others.
Next time, I will pump them up with an oil can before installing. That might have reduced the trouble I experienced.
Thanks to 1Bigjim, Daytona30mike & USA Fountain for your the input and efforts!

Gary