Hydraulic cam followers seized????

[gnutz2]

I got my head back from the machine shop the other day with a very good job done on 3 angle valve seats and backcut valves, a lapin, headskim and gas seal test.

Every thind was going fine building the head up, i noticed some of the followers were not as springy as others but assumed they would settle in once the engine was started.

When i bolted the cams down i could see some of the valves that were supposed to be seated were not . So off came the cams and i inspected the offending buckets, i managed to dismantle them and found a small spring and a ball type one way check valve. This seemed to be causing a hydralic lock not allowing the valves to fully close, anyway the valves now open and close properly with the cams in.

Has anyone experienced this before, it was only five valves that gave me this problem and could potentially allow the cylinder to hit the valves

[Flat on my back]

Which way up did you store the lifters?

Think they should be upside down? if left for any lenght of time.

[S2central.net]

INdeed - lifters need to be kept standing up... Also you need to let the head rest for a few hours after a rebuild wrt lifters so they settle themselves down properly before cranking.

[kninio]

s2central.net : last time i had a valve steam job and i follow the instruction i let the engine relalx for 24 hours , but since the one of the lifters is noisy , it was like that before what could be? , i am planing to change it with new or its not ideal to change just one?

[DJones]

I squeezed my original set in a rubber faced vice to dispurse of all the old oil, filled them up with WD40 and repeated several times... they were as quiet as a mouse only replaced them when the thrust bearing went.... wanted to ensure there was no debris in them prior to the rebiuld..

[S2central.net]

Thats a good tip... I suppose the WD40 just evaporates off so you don't run the risk of storing up the remnants for oil dilution when the engine is running.

[DJones]

Yes, you can squeeze them in your fingers afterwards and squeeze all the WD40 out..

[gnutz2]

I spoke to the guy that did my head and he uses a hydralic pump to push the followers out then dismantle them, clean any oil out and put them back in the buckets.

I managed to pull them out with a a pair of grips, blew them out and checked the valve works and now they`re nice and spongey.

Thanks guys.