Why you should replace your stock lifters.

[4orced4door]

My car's lifter tick had quickly gone from bad to worse. More than a nuisance, it was causing phantom knock, pulling my timing *contstantly*. While racing my brother's 1G AWD, which I just might have beat (but probably not), it started phantom knocking like crazy in 3rd and 4th and I had to let off and watch him fly by.

So I got around to installing the lifters I purchased a month ago. I ordered them from Brian at Valley Engine Parts (you can find the number by searching). These new lifters are waaay better than stock. The hole is literally like 10x bigger. It was a very easy install. It probably wouldn't have taken more than an hour to do if I hadn't been running from deerflies the whole time (I'm super allergic to them). I still got bit and my hands and feet are all swollen now but that's beside the point.

My car used to squeak like mad, click, rattle, all kinds of engine noise. I always thought my belts and pulleys were all about to go from all the squeaking. Turns out it was my lifters! After I did the job, there is almost zero engine noise while standing at the front of the car at idle. Just a nice low rumble from the 3" exhaust. Best of all, there's no more phantom knock. Also had a chance to clean up the valve cover and replace the gaskets.

Easy install, totally worth the time, and I would recommend it to anyone still using 1g lifters if they give you the slightest crap. These babies are silent.

One more thing - Brian was great to deal with. He forgot to ship out my order (which I had placed a week and a half prior) so when I called and inquired he shipped them immediately via overnight at no charge to make things right.

 

[4orced4door]

I forgot to add:

Here's why you don't let your less mechanically inclined friends "watch". One of my friends has been begging me to let him help me work on my car. My usual friend that works on my car with me couldn't make it, so invited him over. I was taking the screws out of the valve cover, and I had already pulled the spark plugs. I hadn't stuffed paper towels down the wells yet because I knew I wasn't going to drop anything in, and I would've had to pull them back out to take the VC off anyway. Well my friend grabs a ratchet and starts "helping" since there are so many screws.

I'm sure you've already guessed what happens. He says, "I dropped one." I say, "then get it." He says, "no, down in there," and points to the #1 plug well. I look, and don't see a screw, which means it lying in there on top of the piston. I say, "You've got to be freaking kidding me!!" So I'm freaking out thinking I'm going to have to pull the head. I called up a friend of mine (20 year ford mechanic, yeehaw!) and he came and got it out with a magnet in like one minute.

Moral of the story - work by yourself!

 

quote:Sometimes when a person is learning from me; the best thing to remember is patience..
LOL thats the same thing that I go through in my banquet kitchen! You might think some one is sooo stupid and will never be able to do it... but in the long run they become just as good as you..... I will be in the same boat in a lil while hopefully as soon as I learn to weld from my girls Uncle! I am sure I will catch on fire a few times and make some bad welds but I will get it.

 

[Hertz]

Anybody have a tip as to where to look for one of those telescoping magnet tools?

 

quote:Originally posted by Hertz:
Anybody have a tip as to where to look for one of those telescoping magnet tools? http:www.harborfreight.com

 

[ken inn]

sears had them, several kinds. i also bought some of the neato magnetic parts trays, round ones, oval ones, bf round ones, rectangular ones, i got about 6 diferent ones.

 

[04DrBlur]

Sears has several. They have different weight capabilities, I believe the strongest was 5 lbs. I bought the 1 lb. magnet and boy is it usefull.

 

[4orced4door]

Yeah, I probably could have had a little more patience. But he's one of those hyper types, and I like to take my time when I'm working on the car to make sure I don't screw anything up. That and the damn deerflies already had me in a bad mood.

 

[Romanova]

Sears has several telescoping magnets, but if you have access to a Snap On truck, they have tons! I've purchased 4 different ones... perfect for retrieving stuff from even the most tricky of places...

 

I got mine from Carquest, for a few bucks. That sucker can pick up ratchets, pliers, you name it. Good quality too. Any car store you go to will carry them, and probably most hardware stores too.

 

[4orced4door]

I should rename this thread "Where to buy magnets."

 

[Hertz]

Sorry! I now remember why I blocked Harbor Freight from my memory... yeah I went in looking for a f***ing 2.99 magnetic part retriever but came out with 10x as much.

I've been throwing the Valley Engine Parts information around for a few months, but honestly haven't purchased yet. I'm no stranger to cold morning knock and part-throttle knock. My favorite is driving along parked cars with my window down -- I get that nice ticking reflected intermittenly off of the cars along side me. Drive-throughs are nice too... Would you like to try the ultra-value-menu? No thanks, I'm just hear to mow the lawn...

 

quote:Originally posted by 4orced4door:

Moral of the story - work by yourself! I have learned two people who know what they are doing can finish a job in half the time. It also helps to have the same automotive beliefs. Sometimes when a person is learning from me; the best thing to remember is patience..

 

I made one in the past using a generic magnet epoxied to a piece of plastic vac line. Nice and flexible. You can move it around in the cyl hole. Make sure it's secure though, it could lead to a bigger problem if it came off and stuck to the cyl wall...

 

[spoulson]

Back on topic...

How do you know for sure if the lifters are causing the phantom knock? I'm finding revs over 5500 at WOT are causing bigtime knock and drastic loss of power. Now it could be lots of other things, too, but I wanted to know how likely my noisy lifters could be causing it.

 

[4orced4door]

Here's how I knew it was lifters. Next time you are cruising on the interstate or something, watch your knock. My car, with cruise control on or not, would go to full knock count on constant throttle (holding 55, it would knock). Let off the gas a bit, take it back to where it was, and it will go back to knocking like before. But if you push in the clutch and rev it, then go back to your cruising speed, it won't knock any more. That's what my car did, and it doesn't do it anymore with the new lifters. (Note that this isn't constant. It happens when it wants to, so you might have to watch it for a few days or take a trip somewhere to really diagnose it.)

As for say, WOT above 5500, I don't know. If my car was going to knock, it would start knocking as soon as I punched it and would not go away until I let off. Going above a certain RPM didn't affect the knock. I would say maybe you are running too much boost or not getting enough fuel?

(I'm still interested in the RC car! I haven't been working much at all due to finals so I'm waiting for my graduation money. My party is next weekend!)

 

lol @ Hertz
I've got some tick after this latest oil change, figures the one time I dont do a flush I get tick. I might have to do this job now too.

 

I have an assortment of various strength and size magnets. In addition, the little grabber is a handy tool. The long flexible metal kind with the thumb plunger at the top and the 4 metal grabby fingers at the other end. Good for retrieving non metallic items.

 

one last thing on magnets... i saw that sears has a handy dandy one that has an end with a lil led flashlight on the end! nice addition!

btw: you ever beat that 1G?

 

[4orced4door]

quote:Originally posted by JAYGVR4:

btw: you ever beat that 1G? I wish. He's got a much nicer setup than I do. 16G, VPC/GCC, Water Injection, Alamo SMIC, yadda yadda. He had the WI off and was only running 14psi and was still beating me, and I was running 17psi.

He bought it new, so he's had plenty of time to get it tweaked. I'll get him one day though, when I have my L2R.