Collasped lifter??? I think

[Layne]

So my 77 is in the trans shop, and I keep wondering about her.  As some of you know I've had problems with my build- 1 Dropped in a 700 r4 to replace my three on the tree. 2 I got ripped off and discovered I had a 305, which I built anyway. 3 Blew it up. 4 got a holley 750 for pennies. 5 dropped in a 400 and got her tuned and exhausted. 6 My trans blew up, but was under warranty, so no big deal.  Anyway, my concern that I keep thinking about while shes been away is that the shop that tuned my 400 said my holley was junk, and there was this  popping out of the  carb. So I throw on a good rebuilt edelbrock 600. Same popping...  Hmmm.  Now the motor is timed - both cam and ignition. But my thinking is that when I put my 400 together, I used 3 qts of lucas and 2 qts of 10 w30. That's pretty thick! So the shop tuned it and it had the popping. Changed the oil, straight 10 w 30, changed the carb, and the pop was louder.  The shop also adjusted my rockers, as they said I had them too tight. Do you guys suppose I have a stuck lifter causing my intake valve not to close? Remember it's at the trans shop for the next few months, and I have no real access to the truck.  It's a 400 with hooker super comps, eddie nascar air gap intake, serp conversion with underdrive pulleys, and msd ignition from the rotor up. Thanks for the help, and if I've made myself look like I worry too much let me know. lol

[VileZambonie]

Why 2 quarts of lucas? Was this with a new cam and lifters? Take the valve covers off and re-adjust the valves. Make sure there are no bent pushrods.

If it still does it, perform a compression test on each cyl.

Make sure your ignition wires and plugs are correct also.

[Layne]

It has stock internals, but I wasn't taking any chances with this motor. maybe too much lucas, but it sat for quite some time, and I was planning on doing a motor flush. I got a free oil change at cruise night, and changed it then. It had about 20 miles on the lucas.  You might be right with the pushrods, though, as I used my lunati ones out of the 305. They're stock length, and I checked them by rolling them on my toolbox.  Maybe a new set wouldn't be a bad investment.

[355shortbed]

while your changing the pushrods, wouldnt be a bad investment of time and 30 bucks in gaskets to check the lifters to, better be safe then sorry. i had popping out of the carb and ended up my lifters were wiping out. bad cams and lifters, it was a mess. but just a suggestion.

[Layne]

A new cam is in my wish list, but my g/f isn't too happy about my money pit- 3rd motor, now I'm on my third trans as soon as it gets out of the shop. I was pricing some p rods and maybe some possible roller tip rockers, but if I get lifters, their going to be in a cam kit. Then, I'll put on my gear drive and hopefully that won't give me any probs, as I had it in my 305 and their were gouges on the block where it rested.  I think thats where my metal shaving came form.  I love gear drives, but every time I've had one, it blew up a motor. Maybe 3rd times the charm on that? Lol

[team39763]

A buddy brought his truck by my house yesterday and it was doing the same thing.  We swapped from his Edelbrock to a Holley 750, but it still did it.  So I asked him to pull the valvecovers and one rocker arm was really loose and then I noticed the lifter was collapsed.  We checked to make sure the pushrod wasn't bent.  He tightend down the rocker arm a bit and it ran OK...until it loosened up again.  So maybe you do have a collapsed lifter.  His cam and lifters were new.

[Layne]

That stinks... I just got my lunati p rods and some roller tip rockers. Man, I don't wanna take that intake off again!!!