Lifter Replacement

[steve1973]

Last week I had some great weather so it was time to drive it 4 miles into town to the local auto shop to start on some engine work. I have some lifters to replace.







At the shop and the hood off I noticed I had a cracked cylinder head. The head came off last Friday and taken to a specialist to get repaired.



Today, Monday, I removed the carb, intake/exhaust manifold to get access to the front lifters. Got the lifter block removed and replaced the two that were noisy with NOS ones I got from Liberty Engineering. But I found one more giving me problems. There are three parts to the lifter and they are: body, unit and plunger. The spring loaded plunger is rock solid. I've tried pliers, hammer and a vice to compress the unit but no budge. I need one more plunger. HELP PLEASE!!











Thanks!

Steve A.
541-914-2916
htmotorpool@gmail.com

[coreyelliott]

I don't have any suggestions about the stuck lifter; however, I still wanted to say that I enjoyed your pictures.  Can't wait until we can hop in ours and drive 4 miles somewhere.  At least you found the bad one while you were in there I guess.

Corey

[steve1973]

A few years back at the MVPA convention in Petaluma, CA someone had mentioned that old Cadillac V-8 lifters were very similar to the White engine and may work. I bought a few used ones to compare and the body and unit are different but I think the plungers are close enough to be interchangeable. In a panic I checked eBay and found some at a reasonable price and ran out to the garage to get the Cadillac ones I have to compare. Again, the plunger was not compressible. OK, so I put the plunger in the unit and guess what. It was compressible!! WTF!! Sorry for the language but this stumps me. So, I tried all 12 on my spare engine plungers that were all rock solid by them selves and guess what, they all compressed!! WTF?? OK, I re checked the three bad ones I removed from the engine. They compress!! I have no clue why only in the unit they compress. I do not see a valve in it but will retry to install one tomorrow afternoon and see what happens.

[Smadge]

Steve,

I had the same problem when I rebuilt my engine and if I remember correctly you have to gently push in a small wire or punch up in the "unit" and it will release the plunger.

Give that a try..

Paul

[steve1973]

Steve,

I had the same problem when I rebuilt my engine and if I remember correctly you have to gently push in a small wire or punch up in the "unit" and it will release the plunger.

Give that a try..

Paul

Paul,

Yes, I learned that trick to separate or put the two together. My problem was the plunger spring compression. I wasn't able to do this when I was working on the engine earlier today. I think I got it figured out though and will try it tomorrow.

Steve A.

[steve1973]

I believe I got my problem all figured out. Lifters are all installed and my cracked head is repaired and ready to pick up. I hope to have the halftrack back on it's feet on Monday.

Steve A.