BETTER news for my 408. ITS ALIVE!!!!!

Hey guys. Got some bad news about my new 408. It seems that I may have had a lifter collapse. I have some pretty shitty luck with engines in this 71!!! A lot of you know the story behind my multiple bad engines. This doesn't seem to be very bad and I don't believe there is any damage, other than a collapsed lifter.

I pulled the car out for its first drive of the spring the other day. It ran fine. Drove it to work. Around town a little, nothing crazy. I did hear what I thought was a header leak or valve tap. I stopped at the auto parts store and got everything to do an oil change for the new driving season. Put the car up on jack stand, changed oil, all looked good. Wasn't even dirty. No metal, no shavings, nothing. All good. Looked over the entire exhaust system. Checked every nut and bolt, zero leaks. Started the motor, crawled around under the car no sounds nothing. Still some tapping coming from the passenger side. I shut it down, pulled both valve covers and checked everything out. I found #3 intake valve rocker very loose. All others looked fine. The moly lock and set screw were still tight and set, but the rocker tip had almost and 1/8" gap from the roller to the valve tip. NO GOOD! About the only thing I can think of is the lifter collapsed or its stuck in the down position. I can turn the motor over and the lifter moves up and down in the lifter bore nicely. No damage to the valve tip, no damage to the rocker arm, pushrod, spring, all look good. Just an excessive amount of play in the adjustment of the rocker arm. Since the set screw and nut were still tight the only thing I can think of is bad lifter. What do you guys think??? I m going to head down the machine shop that built my motor after work today and talk to them about it. Kinda sucks this motor has maybe 2500 miles on and probably not even that! So I may be ordering a new pair of lifters and pulling my intake, F*CK! Not the way I wanted to start the summer out! But as long as it didn't hurt anything im ok with that!

I'd say your diagnosis is spot-on. I've never had a collapsed lifter before, so I couldn't say for sure that's what it is (based on experience), but all of the other clues you've found speak to it.

Hey - at least it's not terminal. Minor inconvenience, sure. Warranty? If not, easy-peasy... you got this. ::thumb::

Good luck. These stroker motors do require some tweaking at times. I've got to do a rear main seal on mine. and right now I am really glad I have a solid roller lifter cam!

Thanks guys. No warranty. motor is almost 2 years old now.

Yeah jeff, I was thinking in the beginning about going with the solid lifter, but I am lazy and didn't want to adjust valve lash all the time. So here I am with a collapsed lifter....dammit. How often do you need to adjust your valves with a solid roller cam??

You might be able to pull the lifter without pulling the intake. There is a special tool that can grab it.

I think you will need to go through the break in procedure again.

You might be able to pull the lifter without pulling the intake. There is a special tool that can grab it.

I think you will need to go through the break in procedure again.

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I don't think I can get the lifter out with out pulling the intake. My lifters are connected with a dog bone. But you never know might get lucky. I shouldn't need to do any break in since these are roller lifters.

I also used a stud girdle. After break in I had to adjust about 4 valves and in the 2500 miles since then, not a peep. I'm hopeful that with the poly locks, the stud girdle and the solid roller lifters that there should be essentially zero wear and that adjustments will be fairly infrequent. If I have to spend an hour to adjust the valves once every couple of years, I think I can find the time.

I also used a stud girdle. After break in I had to adjust about 4 valves and in the 2500 miles since then, not a peep. I'm hopeful that with the poly locks, the stud girdle and the solid roller lifters that there should be essentially zero wear and that adjustments will be fairly infrequent. If I have to spend an hour to adjust the valves once every couple of years, I think I can find the time.

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Damn if I would of known that's all the more often they need done, then I would have definitely went solid roller!!!

I'm not saying that my hopes will be confirmed, but I can't see why I'd be wrong (of course that is my normal problem )

I hope it is just a lifter. I'd check the rocker arm, pushrod, and stud VERY closely. Good luck and let us know what you find.

Chuck

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i would install a different brand of lifters . . if they are comp lifters, which are notorious for having probs, i would give them to someone i hate . . if they are non rollers, i would use cranes . . if they are rollers, i would use morels.

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More diagnosis is in order. A bad lifter is not uncommon but usually they just have leakage when warm and get noisy. I'd pull the lifter and hope the roller tip is not damaged along with the camshaft lobe or even the pushrod. If it does end up being a single collapsed lifter then it's easy street to getting it all going again.

I hope it is just a lifter. I'd check the rocker arm, pushrod, and stud VERY closely. Good luck and let us know what you find.

Chuck

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+1, I would suspect a bent push rod or a stud backed out before a collapsed lifter. I've had lifters get noisy but they usually clear up after a couple of heat cycles.

Thanks for all the input guys. I did a little more digging around and found what looks to be part of the retainer clip broke off. All my lifters, rockers, pushrods, studs, guides, ect. look to be in very good shape. With the broken retainer the spring moved up higher on the valve stem. Once I saw that I decided to pull the head so I can check for any damage to the valve or valve seat. So far it looks pretty good. I have not dis-assembled the valve, I am going to let the machine shop do that and inspect the valve and valve seat for any damage. The guy that built my motor said he would take care of it. Only thing im out is a little bit of time and some gaskets. Hopefully we don't find anything else bad. Im glad I caught it before it turned really bad! If that retainer would of came off, the valve could of dropped into the cylinder and tore up the whole motor! Man I have some shitty luck with motors!! Not sure what caused it. Possibly just a bad retainer?? Motor was never over-revved. I have my rev limiter set at 6500rpm and have never even hit it once. So we will see how this all pans out. But hopefully worse case , im out some gaskets, valve, and seat. But it looked ok?? wont know til we tear it down though. Heres a few pics.







Bad retainer



What its supposed to look like

Wow. That is lucky it didn't drop the valve. I am no expert but it doesn't look to me like the valve and piston ever kissed.

The next question is what would cause the retainer to break? Again, no expert, but it seems like you might not want to write it off to bad luck.

As bad as your luck may be you just experience a massive stroke of good luck. You might consider changing all the keepers and retainers or at least do a thorough inspection. A very unusual failure. I hope things go smoother in the future. Chuck

Thanks guys. My engine builder said same thing about possibly changing out the retainers and keepers. I am lucky that the keeper was still in there good enough to keep the valve from dropping! That's what destroyed my last motor! There's no evidence of the valve contacting the piston, so that's good! I will know a little more once the engine builder checks it out.

Well I'm going to congratulate you on catching it before real significant damage occurred. There are different retainers and it might be a mismatch, or it might be a valve stem that was cut out of spec or an installation error. You could be back on the road in a few days and at no cost so I think you made out like a bandit this time.

Wow. You are very lucky as bad luck goes...very lucky.