Solid or hydraulic lifters?

[Canary94GT]

Do I have solid or hydraulic lifters on my 200ci inline-6 that's in my 1965 Ford Mustang?

The engine was built in April of 1965 and the car was on the production line on May 11, 1965.

The rocker arms have adjusting screws, and by looking down the holes where the rods go, I can see there are two bars that go across the top of the lifter and look like they squeeze the end of the pushrod.

My machinist who rebuilt the head and has never seen the block thinks that they are solid lifters. I know there are different ways to adjust the valves based on this, so what should I do?

 

[Eaglo]

It's funny that I asked the same question here about my '64 200 last week. I was replacing the head with one I found on ebay.

I didn't get a definite answer, though Ford says all mid '64 and up engines had hydraulic lifters. I saw the retaining wires in the lifters below and assumed they could not be solid. Also my engine was hardly serviced and made no valve noise at all -- not the sign of an old solid lifter mill, which usually sound like old Dodge taxis.

So I assumed they were hydraulic, and adjusted them cold as such, following the outline in the Tech section of this site. Assuming the lifters were collapsed because the motor had been quiet for weeks, I adjusted the rockers to have about .10 clearance with the valves when they were closed.

Started the engine and it ran fine though a bit noisy. As it heated up, the space didn't close up so I adjusted them again to have no clearance (as the tech article states).

This left me with a fine running quiet - hydraulic liftered - 200.

Good luck with your project!

Ed in NY.

 

[wallaka]

Yeah, most likely hydraulic. If there is a clip at the top, they are hydraulic. There is a very good chance that Ford put solid lifters into some 200s though, given their whatever's-in-the-parts-bin-goes-on-the-engine philisophy. These motors weren't supposed to have the adjustable rockers either, but a good bit of them did.

 

[Canary94GT]

Thank you guys very much.

The tops look just like this one does:

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/N ... lve+Lifter

 

[drag-200stang]

The retainer clip does not mean that they are not solid lifters. The solid lifters that I have can be taken apart but they are in fact solid - no hydraulic mechanism inside. I guess it depends on who made them. I like the ones with the retainer clip, they are lighter because they are hollow inside.

I'm sure the early Ford stuff were completely solid with no retainer clip but who knows, as old as these engines are, what's in them now.

 

[wallaka]

I forgot about that!

Sometimes you can fish them out with a magnet instead of pulling the head to check them. Sometimes, if the moon is right and you are lucky. And you have a strong magnet.

 

[Canary94GT]

But I can be pretty sure that if I can push down on the pushrods by like a mm or two, then I have hydraulics?

 

[Lazy JW]

But I can be pretty sure that if I can push down on the pushrods by like a mm or two, then I have hydraulics?

Yup.

 

[Eaglo]

Okay, now I am completely befuddled.

Looked down my '64 200 and saw the clips on the lifters and figured they were hydraulic. The engine was laid up for two weeks, I couldn't push down on any pushrods, so I figured the lifters were collapsed. I couldn't get any out with a magnet or tool.

I set them as hydraulic lifters with no play and the motor runs fine. Quiet. Smooth.

Now I'm losing sleep because I'm afraid they might be solid lifters which I set too tight.

What should I do??? Help!

Eddie, NY

 

[Lazy JW]

... couldn't push down on any pushrods, so I figured the lifters were collapsed......

There will always be some lifters that get collapsed because they are trying to open the valve, but some of them should NOT be collapsed.
As mentioned above, some (perhaps all?) of the "solid" lifters use retaining clips to hold them together.

I suspect you have mechanical lifters; I would definitely re-visit the valve adjustment just to make certain. Can you post photo's?
Joe

 

[Eaglo]

We'll try to get photos.

How do we know if we've got it right? If I open the lash to solid specifications the motor sounds the same as if I set it to hydraulics's zero lash.

When I originally set them with a gap between the lifter and valve then ran the engine, the space never closed up. So I tightened them to zero lash.

 

[bigrob63falcon]

I had the same question weeks ago.i bought a falcon 63 motor was rebuilt and didnt know what lifters were in side every body told me they were probly solids .so i set them as solids after geting it running i could see they were wrong the valves were barely opening and closeing and no oil wasnt comming up .and when setting ther not running i could push down on the rocker arm .so i figer it had to have hydralics in it so i reset them like hydralic and started to get oil and then i could see the rockes pushing the valves down.

 

[Eaglo]

Oop -- I forgot to take the pictures.

I had adjusted these as hydraulics and it ran beautifully. But it was bothering me. So I took off the valve cover and set the front two with .019 lash as you would solids. Forget it! TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP

Set them back as hydraulics with no lash and about 1/4 turn more and it purrs.

Guess that's that!

And I figured out why they don't use oil bath air cleaners any more. Had a NOS one I put on the Econoline last week. What a mess! Like someone put a fan behind a pan of oil! A fine mist of goo everywhere. That thing's gotta go!

Ed - NY
'67 Econo Pickup

 

[Lazy JW]

....
Set them back as hydraulics with no lash and about 1/4 turn more and it purrs.

Guess that's that!....

Yup. Zero lash plus 1/4 turn on solids and it won't run at all.