I backed the push rods right back so there was plenty of play, I let the engine sit overnight and then went to it the next day.  Cam on the base circle, adjust push rods to zero lash and then 20 flats which would put me in the middle of the lifter travel.  I expected the valve train to be tight until the lifter blead down but it was not.  I could spin the push rod in my finger tips imediatly after it was adjusted down.  Does this mean there is no oil in them and they blead down straight away?

The lifters have only done a few thousand kays,  The engine is on the work bench with no oil in it.

Can someone please tell me if this is normal or should I fill the engine with oil, run it back in the bike to pump up the lifters and then re-adjust the push rods?

as long as the tappets are adj on the or just after TDC on the compression stroke  both valves will be closed , then set tappet adj , if the motor is left long enough say 2 tappets were on the full open possie then they  would bleed off  , after adj look @ top of tappet you will see tappet piston is below the c'clip by 2 m.m. thats the preload ,on a bleed off or empty tappet  you should be able to push down the pushrod another  1- 2 m.m. before hitting bottom of hyd travel , i set them @ 1/3 from bottom because of heat epand rate of other top-end parts  like barrel & head , rocker boxes v's exh valve & pushrod etc 

Hi,

Is this sort of stuff excluded when using stock push rods? Take tank off and put them straight in

Thanks
Robots

Hi Robots,

I believe so, but if your new cams have more lift than your stock cams then you are changing your drive train lenth so you would want to adjust the push rods to suit.  The standard tappets have 200 thou travel and you want to adjust down to the centre of the travel so that tells you how much you have to play with.

You see guys say bolt in cam, they are trying to tell us we dont have to change rods or valve springs but I feel more comfortable knowing I am in the center of the tappet travel.

Regards

Rod

 

Hi

Thanks
Robots

hi,

your engine building skills really improving Bashful, good effort man

thanks
robots

different brands of lifters all vary in travel in plunger ,80 tho to 200 , smart person starts at bottom and works up , bit like wedding nite

are you building an internal or external combustion engine ??

is this going to be another bbq and can I come along I need a good laugh

Thanks guys, Davo, I remember you showed me to go down 12 flats after zero lash. The s & s pushrods I used need 20 flats to go down 100 thou and the s & s lifters I have are 200 thou travel.

There are no dramas with how to adjust them, just the fact that they blead down immediately.

0.100" may not be enough pre-load but you said its quiet so must be all good. Well done.
What are the specs of your build?

My Evo lifters (Jims brand) bleed down straight away as well!

I thought that they were buggered, so repeated the entire process for all 4 with the same results.  In the end I put it down to the lifters themselves and thats 'just how these ones' operate. 

Once the engine started she was fine.

i went one step further and even stripped them down to clean them up (and i was curious as to what wa sinside them and how they worked)