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Lifter Failure after brand new rebuild run in.

Hi All.
Looking for a little American knowledge all the way over from here in Australia.

After being in the shop for 2 years, due to some component failure by previous owner, I finally received my 400/500 stroker back from the engine builder with a Comp full hydraulic roller package instead of the previous solid roller build.

We pulled rocker covers off and inspected and noticed one of the lifters was not pumped up even though engine builder had primed it before giving it back to me.
After re installing the engine back into the car, re priming to pump lifter back up and following his run in instructions of 2000rpm for 4 mins, there was a fair bit of valve train noise, we re adjusted lash/preload and motor ran fairly quietly.
We drained oil and cut open filter and there was nothing nasty in there.
The engine had excellent oil pressure the whole time at around 80psi at 2000rpm and 70psi at a 900rpm idle.

The next day, started car up again and was running on 7 cylinders again so I pulled covers again and noticed 2 lifters were now no longer pumped up.

After pulling the intake, rockers, push rods and lifters, it seems that the problem is that the lifters are travelling too high out of the bores at full lift and getting caught. There is light scoring on the bottom 1/4 of most of the lifters consistent with their travel in the bores and some of the rollers now have rough spots when rolling. All lifter bores are fine, non have been re-sleeved.

Is there something that is being missed here? I can’t get onto Comp as they are closed but is there a lifter that has more meat further down that comes down over the roller a bit more like a Howard’s that will give more support in bore at full lift?

Has anyone else had similar issues?
How can Comp sell this type of lifter if it is such a poor design?
Is there something different about the 400 block lifter bores?
I am now back to the start again minus a big chunk of cash but at least I caught it early this time.

The engine builder doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it and has extremely poor social skills which has been a major issue through out the whole build. I was never really keen to use Comp components either, so now I am trying to reach out to people that have knowledge of these engines as I am by no means an expert on any of this.

These Mopars are no where near as common as Chev/Ford stuff over here in Australia.

Where do I go from here?

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I have been installing a lot of hydraulic rollers because of quality issues with flat tappets. Some of the hydraulic roller lifters I have been getting have had a warning label in them about the centistroke rating of the oil to be used, has to do with viscosity. Bottom line is if you put thick oil in them the lifters will not function correctly. I did a search on the centistroke ratings and came up with 10W30 oil is as thick as they will tolerate. The thick oil also will not lube the push rods as well either if you have pushrod oiling. I solved some of the same issues you mention by using 10w30 where in the past I used 15W40 and 20W50 oils for the break-in period. And I think it stems from the OEM engines all using thinner and thinner oils. I don't think performance is a big enough market to engineer our own style lifters, so they modify OEM bodies for our applications. Just my take on it. Motor Oil Viscosity Classification System
 
I have been installing a lot of hydraulic rollers because of quality issues with flat tappets. Some of the hydraulic roller lifters I have been getting have had a warning label in them about the centistroke rating of the oil to be used, has to do with viscosity. Bottom line is if you put thick oil in them the lifters will not function correctly. I did a search on the centistroke ratings and came up with 10W30 oil is as thick as they will tolerate. The thick oil also will not lube the push rods as well either if you have pushrod oiling. I solved some of the same issues you mention by using 10w30 where in the past I used 15W40 and 20W50 oils for the break-in period. And I think it stems from the OEM engines all using thinner and thinner oils. I don't think performance is a big enough market to engineer our own style lifters, so they modify OEM bodies for our applications. Just my take on it. Motor Oil Viscosity Classification System
Thanks for that but if that were the case, none of the lifters would have pumped up at all and they all did at some stage.
 
The ones I had issues with would pump up when oil got hot, and also remember the lifters do not seal the oil gallery, so not all the lifters are exposed to the same flow and pressure.
 
Hi All.
Looking for a little American knowledge all the way over from here in Australia.

After being in the shop for 2 years, due to some component failure by previous owner, I finally received my 400/500 stroker back from the engine builder with a Comp full hydraulic roller package instead of the previous solid roller build.

We pulled rocker covers off and inspected and noticed one of the lifters was not pumped up even though engine builder had primed it before giving it back to me.
After re installing the engine back into the car, re priming to pump lifter back up and following his run in instructions of 2000rpm for 4 mins, there was a fair bit of valve train noise, we re adjusted lash/preload and motor ran fairly quietly.
We drained oil and cut open filter and there was nothing nasty in there.
The engine had excellent oil pressure the whole time at around 80psi at 2000rpm and 70psi at a 900rpm idle.

The next day, started car up again and was running on 7 cylinders again so I pulled covers again and noticed 2 lifters were now no longer pumped up.

After pulling the intake, rockers, push rods and lifters, it seems that the problem is that the lifters are travelling too high out of the bores at full lift and getting caught. There is light scoring on the bottom 1/4 of most of the lifters consistent with their travel in the bores and some of the rollers now have rough spots when rolling. All lifter bores are fine, non have been re-sleeved.

Is there something that is being missed here? I can’t get onto Comp as they are closed but is there a lifter that has more meat further down that comes down over the roller a bit more like a Howard’s that will give more support in bore at full lift?

Has anyone else had similar issues?
How can Comp sell this type of lifter if it is such a poor design?
Is there something different about the 400 block lifter bores?
I am now back to the start again minus a big chunk of cash but at least I caught it early this time.

The engine builder doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it and has extremely poor social skills which has been a major issue through out the whole build. I was never really keen to use Comp components either, so now I am trying to reach out to people that have knowledge of these engines as I am by no means an expert on any of this.

These Mopars are no where near as common as Chev/Ford stuff over here in Australia.

Where do I go from here?

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View attachment 1395011

View attachment 1395012

View attachment 1395013
I had similar problems with pro comp. Lifters and used Hughes next time, no problem with them.
 
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