It is a big block,a 440.

I had too much play between a couple of rockers so i removed the saft to put more shims.
That is why i had to redoing the preload and it,s when i noticed that two of the lifters were "solids"

There was not too much interference risk in this engine if i recall correctly.
The pushrods are ok.i will have to check if have bent a valve... Just in case..

Never install any engine component that will rotate or spin dry, NEVER
I oil the sides of any lifter type and use cam lube on the bottoms only of flat tappet solids and hydraulic with the oil the motor will be broke in with, none(cam lube) on the sides at all
OP, some lifters won't bleed down as easily as others
Worst yet is they all don't pump up the same as easily as others when priming them
The more you do engine work the more you learn

Hughes Engines has a great & handy chart you can follow...basically cuts down the number of rotations to half, here is the link to that article (PDF document) => http://www.hughesengines.com/Upload/productInstructions/ValveAdjust.pdf

The only good way to get oil to the top of the motor is to have two people on the job, one drives the oil pump with the drill motor and the other spins the engine by hand.
Go with the Lunati procedure for setting preload, my memory is not as good as the book.

I have been reading the entire post again and i,m noticing tha maybe there is an undermistaken.
My fault for sure . I think that have not been able to express the case correctly.

I have not mentioned that the engine has been running with this cam and lifters previously.
I rebuild the engine on a stand,adjusted the preload,prelubed it and installed on car.
Then i did the cam break in.

I started to do the valve adjustment again because i removed the rocker shafts to correct the clearance between rockers because i did not a good job on this while engine was in the stand.That is when i found the issue with the two lifters.


I did want to clarify this because you are suggesting me to prelube the engine and maybe i confused you and you are thinking that i still haven,t started the engine.

Right now i don,t know if it is usual to prelube lifters wich has been alreay working on a running engine or if you need to do this every time you loss the preload,like this case that i have removed the shafts after running the engine.
I,m a little confused about this.

I apologize for the inconveniences
Thanks

My bad. I meant to say lube the outside of the lifters,but don't fill them up before adjusting them.Sorry if I led somebody wrong.


Coke,if you have some lifters that won't bleed down even when you put pressure on them and the valves are opening when you try to adjust,you might have to pull the lifters and take them apart to drain oil out.Make sure they are clean.

It makes absolutely no sense to me to adjust preload on an empty lifter. Adjusting a fully filled lifter will ensure you can feel it at "zero" and then add your preload.

This is why I suggest priming the motor - to ensure all 16 lifters are full.

FWIW, you can't tell me that everyone who does a periodic adjustment removes and drains their lifters before adjusting them !!

Just one example,

If i remove the valve caps on an engine wich has been running,say the day before,
How should be the lifters wich are in the cam base circles(closed valve)?
Should i be able to move the rocker back and forth?
If i grab the pushrod between my fingers, should i be able to press the plunger down and feel it spongy?

Thanks

If the thing's sat overnight, you should be able to spin pushrod with your fingers, provided the cam is on base circle.

I do my preload checking setting/adjusting before I preoil as I am just getting the up & down play of the pushrod to zero with the lifter spring pushing the cup up against the clip then adding in however much preload I am after by extending the pushrod length/turning the adj rocker screw. this is for preliminary setup and after running. if it is better to do it while pumped up then I am willing to change to that.

Absolutely not. The lifter should never bleed more than the amount of pressure placed on it.

i.e. all pressurized lifters sitting in the motor with no pressure on them (no pushrods installed) should not bleed down AT ALL. Why? Because there is nothing to push the oil out.

Keep this in mind ... depending on RPM you have anywhere from 20 to maybe 70 pounds of oil pressure to pressurize the lifter. You have more than 300 pounds of spring pressure trying to force the oil out of the lifter. Therefore the lifter has to be designed NOT to bleed off that oil easily otherwise you'd never reach the potential of the cam.

Then the issue is with the other 14 lifters!
The two wich are "hard" are the only ones wich are doing what is suppoused that they should to do.

I really belived that lifters turn soft once the engine is not running for a time..

Maybe the two hard ones were on the base circle - all others were in some degree of lift !!

I'd still take those two apart & clean em/reinstall & see if that takes care of it. it'd be nice as no breakin will be needed which would be if you get (2) new lifters.

Means taking the intake off. If you're that concerned I'd put those two at max lift overnight and check the next day to see if they bleed down.

Those are the only two that are good. The other 14 are junk, IMO. Everyone has just gotten so use to it... it is just the new norm.

I was thinking on that idea too
.
I don,t want to think that a set of lifters wich has been running less than an hour in total are already junk.

We are going to start for the easiest thing, wich is preoling to see if they get pressure and set the valve adjustment again.
If not i will remove the intake to see what is happening here.

How much i should to loose the rockers adjusters? Just enough to evit tha the pushrod escapes from the adjuster ball ?

If loose them all the way off the cups are going to damage the rockers while i,m turning the crankshaft.

take the pushrods out

Don't worry about getting them perfect by priming them when setting them, use the up and down method cold to determine absolute( + or minus .002 ) zero lash and then add 1/4 to 1/3 turn preload
Mopar had some issues with all their hi Po cam kit hydraulic lifters clattering intermittingly for several years, my wife old 1973 318 motor with the Mopar 1968 340 automatic replacement cam would have one or two lifters collapse when sitting overnight sometimes and then pump up and be good for several more days and then do it again until it had around 5000 miles on that motor