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Thread: Hydraulic or Solid Lifters?

  1. #1

    Hydraulic or Solid Lifters?

    I am doing a top end rebuild on my 1949 248 and am embarrassed to state that I do not know if I have solid or hydraulic lifters. I have two reference manuals and they contradict each other. My lifters look like they are made of two parts. The inner part has an oil hole and is retained in the outer cylinder by a wire spring retainer. I am unable to move the inner part when I press on it. I do not want to disassemble the lidter for fear of damage. I assume a solid lifter is "solid", made of only one part. Does anyone has a suggestion or how to tell them apart?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    14
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    Just press down on the center of the lifter, a hydraulic will compress, and the solid will not, if the head is on the engine tighten the adjusting screw 1/2 a turn, a hydraulic will slowly return to zero lash, a solid will hold the vale open and will not return.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Newman View Post
    I am doing a top end rebuild on my 1949 248 and am embarrassed to state that I do not know if I have solid or hydraulic lifters. I have two reference manuals and they contradict each other. My lifters look like they are made of two parts. The inner part has an oil hole and is retained in the outer cylinder by a wire spring retainer. I am unable to move the inner part when I press on it. I do not want to disassemble the lidter for fear of damage. I assume a solid lifter is "solid", made of only one part. Does anyone has a suggestion or how to tell them apart?

    If it's got a wire spring retainer on top, chances are they're hydraulic.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    165
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    you don't say if this motor was running or had set up for a long time.If it had set up for a extended period the lifters could be stuck so bad they won't move easily. Since you have gone to the trouble of pulling the head I think you should go ahead an disassemble the lifters and clean them up. keep the individual lifter parts separated from one another. They should be put back on the same cam lobe they came off of. Carburator cleaner does a pretty good job cleaning lifters.

  5. #5

    Hydraulic Lifters

    Thanks for the input. They are hydraulic and the inned pistons were stuck. I have disassembled them with some trouble and they are now cleaned. Unfortunately I mixed all of the parts together so we not have dissimular components together. Hopefully it will work for a year or so. I plan to rebuild the engine block next winter with new lifters and other parts.

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