200ci Soaking the lifters

[Dr_Dan_WWW]

I put my new Howard hydraulic lifters in a small pan to soak overnight in motor oil before installing. I assume they should stand upright (not upside down or laying on their side.) True?

Question: Howards instructions say don't pump up the lifters. What does that mean? Does it mean "don't squeeze the lifters while they're under oil?"

Also the instructions say wipe down the lifters before installing. I assume not bone dry. And I assume they are installed with some sort of assembly lube. What's the correct procedure?

The Ford Falcon book, my Fairmont Shop book and the Ford Inline book don't go into detail about how to soak and install the lifters. At least not as much as I need to know. Any help is appreciated.

 

[aussie7mains]

Soaking is good, dont bother drying, but do put tonnes of moly lube on the base of the lifter, and ideally the cam lobes.

 

[PSIG]

I put my new Howard hydraulic lifters in a small pan to soak overnight in motor oil before installing. I assume they should stand upright (not upside down or laying on their side.) True?

Correct, and the idea is like pre-filling your filter, so it's ready to operate on the first crank rotation, without waiting for oil flow to fill it up, then wait for it to get through the pushrod, to the rocker, then dribble down to the rocker tip, etc. It also helps with starting, as the valves are opening more like they should before oil flow makes it there.

Question: Howards instructions say don't pump up the lifters. What does that mean? Does it mean "don't squeeze the lifters while they're under oil?"

I'd say that's correct. Just let them fill slowly on their own. I just stand them up in a pan and fill around them with oil, but not over the top. Oil leaks in the side and air purges out the top until full. Is it critical? IMO no. I've put them into a ziplock bag with a glurp of oil and that seemed OK too. The alternative to all this is to prime the engine just before first firing by driving the oil pump with a drill, rotating the crank a couple times until oil is flowing out all the rockers. But that flows oil everywhere, washing all that sexy lube off. Then again, that's the point, right? ...

Also the instructions say wipe down the lifters before installing. I assume not bone dry. And I assume they are installed with some sort of assembly lube. What's the correct procedure?

Yeah, I wipe them down so they're not dripping. This (for me) is to reduce wash-off of the assembly lube on the lobes. The assembly lube is oil-soluble, and it's counter-productive in my mind to remove any of what I took time to put on there. If you're not using assembly lube but using pre-start priming, then I would put 'em in sloppy wet.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, since the 1970s, we would put the lifters in a coffee can and cover lifters with motor oil. You can see bubbles coming out of the hole in the side of the lifters. We would just drop them right into the block. On the engines that I assemble I give the cam a good coat of assembly lube, and install the lifters right from the coffee can. Good luck

 

[Frank]

Coat the outside with oil, install and let the oil pump prime them up on the pre-start electric drill prime. If you're not doing an engine-off prime, just changing lifters then yes, soak.
The manufacturer's say don't pump them up because it's supposedly easier to set initial pre-load. (Hydraulic) It's builder's choice IMO. I prefer them pumped up before setting the lash. Often a new unfilled lifter compresses easily and it's hard to determine 0-lash. When changing lifters without a pre-prime I soak and pump them up while submerged in the soak can.
Builders choice, no wrong way- as long as they're oily.

 

[drag-200stang]

On my non daily driver one valve cover hot rods, I prefer solid lifters and cams, better top end performance. Easy to set no worry is it pumped up, down, will it get stuck.
I know is is not that hard, but I like the simplicity and the performance gain.

 

[Dr_Dan_WWW]

Thanks folks. This is exactly the kind of opinions and experience I needed to hear. Yes, I am concerned that oil-wet lifters will wash off all the assembly lube. But I am going to load up assembly lube first and foremost.
Howards Cams is concerned about setting lash with tight filled lifters. So that's why they wrote up "don't pump up the lifters."