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Changed the lifters, my knuckles still hurt

Just a note to all those ticking lifter owners out there.

I bought the 3rd gen lifters from Eagle Warehouse.
http://www.eagleautomotivewarehouse.com/

Great price, great service, shipped and arrived quickly.

In addition to the lifters I'd get a new valve cover gasket, that "halfmoon" gasket for the passenger side cam end, four spark plug gaskets, new oil cap, and a PCV valve. With all these replaced you shouldn't be leaking anything topside for awhile. Here's where I got mine:
http://www.dsmparts.com/maintenance__dsm.htm

Now for the fun of installing them.

I read the Vfaq and they make it sound like a cake walk. I suppose compared to dropping the tranny or putting in a 4 bolt rearend it may be?

Tools I used. 1 large standard screw driver (read: prybar), 1 smaller standard screw driver for secondary leverage and prying, 1 magnetic retrieval stick, 15mm (?) socket with breakerbar for turning the cams.

Valve cover was sealed...REALLY sealed. I had to pry it off with a rather large screw driver, which you'll use extensively during the lifter change.

After getting the valve cover off I made a funny discovery from a previous owner or oil changer. There was a plastic ring from a quart of oil floating around in there. I'm hoping there aren't more floating around in other parts of my engine?
grin.gif


If you've nevered changed lifters before be ready for the three P's. Patients, Power, and Pop.

The first roller bearing you leverage off goes quick and pops off with some distance as it's goal. The first one flew over my head and across the garage. Note to self, cover area with rag before leveraging the next one. The sound and feel is that you've broke it, you haven't, but it scared the sh*t out of me.

Also I highly suggest three rags for the oil return channels. Stuff them shut so you don't lose anything down there, that would suck!

I got all of the lifters out except for one set that required some turning of the cams for clearance. I felt lery torquing on the cams but the timing belt didn't skip and they did turn, so I could finish the job.

All and all about two hours of slipping screw drivers and scuffed knuckles.

Once I get my new FMIC installed I'll be able to test it and see if lifters will run unlike a ticking bomb?

Lastly, the holes on the 3rd gen lifters are HUGE compared to my stockers. Like 3 or 4 times larger in diameter.

Just sharing my experience,
 

4G63_GSR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 22, 2003
Messages
853
Location
wis
wanna do mine?
grin.gif
thanks for the layout. I get a lot of lifter noise and need to fix that soon. Off note, what are the consequences of not fixing your loud lifters?
 

Aaron

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2003
Messages
1,233
Location
Milwaukee
hello 4G63_GSR, i am going to be doing mine after the holidays, if you are around milwaukee, we could probably do your car too.
smile.gif
 

Aaron

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2003
Messages
1,233
Location
Milwaukee
quote:Originally posted by 4G63_GSR:
...what are the consequences of not fixing your loud lifters? I am getting massive knock counts....
 

quote:Originally posted by 4G63_GSR:
wanna do mine?
grin.gif
thanks for the layout. I get a lot of lifter noise and need to fix that soon. Off note, what are the consequences of not fixing your loud lifters?
1) you could actually have a collapsed lifter not working properly (I did on the white car)
2) knock sensor will pick it up retard your timing

Second that with covering the oil drain holes. I lost one of the tiny keepers down mine - just once though. Covered the rest up before moving on.
 

quote: I am getting massive knock counts.... Ditto...was getting I should say. I'll post back up when I get the car running and logged.
 

After cursing and screaming for about 2 hours, i loosend the cams enough to lift them about an inch. Took me 10 minutes after that.

No prying or flying lifters. Just my suggestion.
 

ken inn

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 23, 2001
Messages
7,529
Location
krum texas
having changed out the cams in my car, if i ever do the lifters, that is how i'll do it. tie wrap the timing belt to the cams, loosen the tensioner, and remove the cams. it's really not hard, and is very quick.
 

91GVR4

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
432
Location
Wasilla, AK
No,No,....3g lifters are the third revision to the 4G63 lifters. Mitsu has revised the lifters three times because they sucked. Go to the eagle parts link and see, they are great guys to deal with. Mine will be in Monday. Whoho! No more lifter tick, No more knock count!!
 

Once you get the valave cover off it's about a 20 minute job with the right prybar. I screwdriver makes it a lot harder.

Scott
 

Luke

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2002
Messages
752
Location
San Jose, CA
How do you guys seal the valve cover back on ?
I used RTV all around the perimeter, and it's leaking.

I think the instruction manual says no RTV except for a few specific places. I'm going to redo mine with less RTV and see if the leak goes away.

Oh yeah, the new 3rd gen lifters are awesome. My car is so quiet now..
I guess it also helps that I replaced my old balance belt which has stripped teeth!
shocked.gif
 

I actually cleaned up the perimeter of the head real good and didnt put any RTV. One fresh set of gaskets and all is good in the valve cover world......

Alex.
 

Luke

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2002
Messages
752
Location
San Jose, CA
I redid the valve cover with RTV _only_ at the places specified by the manual.

So far, it seems to be not leaking ( just one day ). Or at least, leaking much less than before.
It took me forever to clean up all the RTV that I applied just a few days before.

Also, one thing that probably helped on the second time around is that I used torque wrench set to 2 lb-ft ( very low ) to tighten it, instead of just doing it by feel.

I was also told to tighten it in steps. So I did 1 lb-ft all the way around, followed by 2 lb-ft.

It's probably overkill, but I'm getting very tired off the oil leak.
Hopefully, no more oil leak now.. Next is to clean my engine bay.
 

91GVR4

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
432
Location
Wasilla, AK
okey I got my lifters in yesterday, yippy!. They clattered like mad for a good bit after I started it, but a little run around the block a few times and they filled up. The car is so quite now! In fact it makes so little noise that I found out that my crank pulley is shot. I can hear it rubbing now.
I didn't have much trouble at all with the lifters, I used a craftsman 13" flat screwdriver and had lots of leverage. After the first few the rest went like clockwork. Only one flew behind the engine
grin.gif
. Now I need bigger injectors to stop my WOT knock. At least I know it is real knock now. Happy modding everyone.
 
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