Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 235 noisy hyd lifters

Hi Gang.Been a while but I'm back with something thats bugging me .On starting the engine from cold one lifter tapps for a while,no noise at all when the engine is hot.I'm thinking that the lifter that is compressed on shut down sticks compressed untill it warms up.Its a recently rebuilt engine,new pump,bearings,etc,noise continues after oil arrives at the rocker shaft.I've tried diferant grades of oils,currently on 10-40,I've tried backing the lifters off but they just rattle like a well thrashed triumph(motorcycle)Lifters are set to touch +1/2 turn when warm.I vaguely recall seeing a mod to hydraulic lifters that involved grinding a slot in them.

Grinding a slot is an attempt to bleed off air that's trapped in the oil at sustained rpms, as these engines when running hydraulic lifters tend to bleed out and hammer.
Grinding a groove on the outside of a lifter will do nothing for a cold start ticking.
You should be running 3/4+ turns...

Have you resurfaced the tips of the rocker arms? This can reduce much of the noise. I run solids in my 261 and I have less noise and NO bleedout problems like I did when I used to run a hydraulic cam in my old 235.

If you can accurately identify where the noise is coming from, you could try replacing that lifer. Also checkout the condition of the pushrod ends, and the adjuster balls.

The best thing to do is run solid lifters in any 235 or 261. With the rocker assembly in proper condition and proper adjustment, you will have little noise and no worries.

Thanks gearhead,seems a sledge/hammer nut aproach but worth thinking about,I'm at the point of is it worth spending through the nose to get bits shipped over,or go down the cheap bent eight route,I'd love to keep the car standard but its getting harder to get six spares

If you don't mind a used cam and lifter, they show up on Ebay. Just make sure that the lifters are marked as to what lobe they ran on, as you don't want to be swapping used lifers around.

One shipping trick that's worked in the past is to ship things as a "gift" with no insurance, assuming the seller is willing to do this.

I have a used solid lifter camshaft that I would be willing to give you for the cost of shipping. I don't have any lifters though.