The valve train on my 351w in my 68 is making a lot of noise. I put some marval mystery oil in the oil and ran it for a while and did not notice any improvement. I took the valve cover off and ran the motor to make sure I was getting oil from the lifters. I am getting an abundance of oil from every rocker arm. Inspecting the rocker arms revealed several of them were very loose. The bolts holding them to the head are tight. I am concluding I have several stuck lifters.

Can lifters be disassembled and cleaned or do they need to be replaced? If they can be cleaned, how do you do it?

P.S. How do you inspect the valve train with the motor running without getting oil everywere?

Thanks

 

With the battery disconnected...rotate the crank with a 1/2" ratchet and proper size socket and watch each rocker. If one or more does not move, you have a problem, which you already suspect. No oil will spill this way.

 

First of all are you sure you have a 351W?, 2nd ,solid or hydrolic lifters?

 

If the rocker nuts are tight you may have a worn out cam.or..broken valve springs

 

It is a 351W. I built it myself many years ago (which should be the first reason for concern). It does have hydraulic lifters. The rocker arm nuts are tight and the valve springs seem ok. At first, I thought about going the course of taking the lifters out and replacing them if some of them are stuck and the cam does not seem scorched. With all the recent talk of roller lifter, my mind immediately is pulled in the direction of a new cam and roller lifters and ... With the idea of keeping it simple until I do major upgrades on the motor and trying not to buy parts that might not work well with said future upgrades, I think I will try to disassemble and clean any lifters that appear stuck.

If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please let me know.

 

Sounds to me like it is time for at least a top end overhaul is needed.

 

You are dead on. It is far past time. I am just coasting along and playing with it until I can get enough in my toys account to rebuild the whole motor. Thus the hesitation to buy parts that I know I will probably replace later.

 

drain a half quart of oil out of your motor or so and then dump a half quart or so of tranny fulid in the motor. it wont hurt anything and it might loosen up your lifters. it wont hurt to try cause itll only cost you a few bucks in fluid and some time and might save you the money from a cam kit.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

 

Ive seen guys take an old valve cover and cut the top off, leaving most of the curved edge, and use that for inspecting and/or adjusting rockers. I didnt have one so I just curled a piece of cardboard around inside the head. Still made a little mess, but not nearly as much as nothing.