I worked a bit on the valve lifters last weekend. I`ve never seen or heard this car run, so I can`t tell if they were noisy. I didn`t want to reassemble the heads with bad lifters because pulling them out with the engine in the car seems a huge PITA. (I might still have to do that.) A plausable choice would be to replace all lifters to new ones, but when I realized that this would be over $500 I decided to rebuild them.
They were all in good condition, with no measurable wear. What usually causes problems in these is the check valve, that gets dirty over time and won`t close anymore, so the lifter collapses, resulting lifter ticking and other subsequent problems.
Taking them apart is not difficult but requires some patience and cautiousness so the tiny bits won`t get lost, and you need a system so you don`t mix them all up. This is all the parts you find inside a lifter, in case you were wondering:
You need a tweezer and a little pin to handle the tiny parts safely.
I cleaned all parts with gas, then with brake cleaner, then with compressed air. Disassembly and cleaning takes about half an hour at the first one. The required time gradually decreases for the next ones. The 24th will only take a few seconds
The oil that came out from the lifter housing was really dirty and used. In a few of them I found some solid gunk too, so I think it was a good decision not to just put them back like they were.
This is the seat for the ball, if it gets dirty, the valve won`t hold pressure.
After they are cleaned and reasembled, time for a good bath in fresh oil. Baby food jars serve well for this purpose, and you won`t mix up the lifters. The best is if all go back to where they originally were.
