roundabout?

[Anonymous]

is there a roundabout way to remove the camshaft without removing the head...could u take off the valve cover, remove the pushrods, insert long extendable magnets into each hole to hold the tappets from falling and just slide in a new cam? also...if i go to roller rockers, will stock tappets be fine and just get new pushrods? i feel that if i redo either the cam or pushrods or head that i have to do it all at once...and that means having parts kicking around till i can afford the rest...

 

[Asa]

i think you could do that, but if you replace the cam, you usually replace the lifters too, dunno 'bout the rest

 

[Anonymous]

thanks..but to replace the lifters i would need to remove the head for sure how bout if i were to get a head and port/ploish and whatever else i feel like doing to it and changing the cam, lifters and rods...would it be fine to use stock rockers with the lifters..i would probably get the hydrolic lifters..is it fine to run stock rockers for some time with these type lifters? about how long has it taken people to remove a head and replace a cam with minimal dificulties?

 

[Anonymous]

You need to yank the head. Often times, a magnet won't get the lifters out of their bore alone. The front and last lifters also have no room to lay flat. If they fell back in the bore without the cam, in you'd be dropping the oil pan to get them out. And really, like Evan said, you need fresh lifters with a new cam.

Stock lifters and pushrods can be used with roller tipped shaft rockers. If you go with Mike's version of the full rollers, you need oil through lifters and pushrods.

 

[Anonymous]

allright, thanks...i was just looking at the 250 overhaul thread and figgure if i can get pistons cheap enough from the parts yard i may actually be doing a decent overhaul myself

 

[Falcon62]

The only way I'd use old lifters would be if they came out of, and went back into the same engine with the same cam and in the exact order they were run. Anything else is asking for trouble.

It's a pain, but if you want to do it right, you're going to have to pull the head. Like John said, it's common for lifters to get stuck due to varnish build-up at the top of the lifter bores.

The rule I follow is, new lifters are ok on a good used cam, but never, ever use old lifters on a new cam unless you want to do the job over and replace the cam and lifters with new parts.