ap6kiwi

had full rebuild on 318la engine , hydrolic lifters and roller rockers used 10w40 oil when 1st started and used for while and then engine builder tol me to use 30w40 oil so I changed to that and instantly when I start engine has ticking from lifter area so after while I drained oil and went back to 10w40 but ticking wont go away, I eventually changed to new lifters and still running 10w40 but even with new lifters ticking is still there. Engine has great oil pressure and runs really good but 1st start it ticks bad until engine gets to operating temperature then it is quiet, can take up to 5 minutes driving til noise goes and engine warm. Any ides how to fix this would be great

RacerHog

Recheck / Reset the Valve Lash and see if that helps.
You have good oil flow to the rockers? Correct?

Iowan

Bob how do you ajust lifters on a LA motor unless you have ajustable rockers?

RacerHog

Reread The first sentence..... I am unaware of Roller Rockers that are Not Adjustable? That would be one up on me.

Iowan

Yep I missed it Bob.

RacerHog

I know, Your just making sure I'm stopping in and really reading stuff !!!!! Good Job Boss !!!

Coronet 500

Welcome.
Is it LA heads? Magnum heads on LA's can have the pushrods rub.

What are the manufacturers preload dimension? Some will be in the .040"-.060" range, some HP lifters will be .006".

I have a pair of valve covers with the tops cut of to run an engine and not have oil running onto the exhaust manifolds. With these you can put your thumb on each side of the rocker and see if the noise is less or more and if it is all or just a few making noise.

Drag Pak

Are the lifters the aftermarket type with the oiling hole in the cup? I have seen this issue several times (no failures but annoying) with this type of lifter. I would also switch to a good grade 10w30 such as Mobil 1 conventional oil.

Iowan

I need to clarify for my own self, this is a non roller lifter block with non roller lifters correct?

ap6kiwi

hi, it is LA heads and hughs roller rockers , heads had 20 thou shaved off to try increase compression , it is a non roller lifter block

Iowan

Roller cam or flat tappet?

ap6kiwi

its a flat tappet

ap6kiwi

when adjusting roller rockers , I have tightened up until pushrod wont turn then backed off half turn , is there better way of doing it

Drag Pak

You want to run between 0.006 and 0.008 preload. At tdc for each cylinder go to "0" lash and the add 1/8 < 1/4 turn down and lock it. You should be able to get "0" lash by feel with thumb and index finger at the adjuster screw.

HonestCharlie1

back in the late 60s thru 70s 318 v8s it was very common to have lifter noise on start up. We use to use a specific oil filter that totally eliminated that problem. I cannot for the life of me remember what specific filter it was but I believe it had something to do with a check valve in the filter. Maybe "old timer" has a better memory than I. May sound crazy but it worked.

Iowan

Fords had that problem also, you never wanted to use a cheap filter on the fords either.

Iowan

On mopars you also need to look at lifter bore size because they would oversize some bores.