Big steps backwards this extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend - but, in the long run, it's a good thing that I caught this:
Remember how half of the lifters on the engine had been replaced on the passenger's side?
There was a good reason for that. The lifters on the driver's side all started failing to pump up with fluid after about a week or two of sitting, which brought me to the point of pulling the intake to find out what's up.
Long story short (VERY long:
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=316085&page=9 ), the driver's side lifters do pump up, but bleed down very quickly and cannot maintain the necessary preload on the rockers.
At first, I thought this was a gallery blockage issue, which I quickly dismissed by checking flow at each bore (excellent) and by swapping lifters from one side to the other (bad ones wouldn't flow no matter where I put them, the good ones always flowed regardless of their position). Oil pressure is excellent, so that pretty much ruled out block issues. Also checked for the infamous and oft-missing rear gallery threaded plug - it's there.
Now that's where this just became sadistically irritating: Neither the Sealed Power nor Melling lifters I bought today - brand new - would pump up. I tried soaking them, then pumping them with oil in my drill press (with a pushrod in the chuck), and trying to prime them under the hood with and without pushrods installed.
Nothing worked.
Side-by-side comparison - no oil at left w/new Sealed Power lifter, oil to no end with one of the good lifters from the engine:
And a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wALp_S2rhsc
In the video, the new Mellings are on cylinders #6 and #8; the "good" lifters from the passenger's side are distributed in the front of the engine on #2, #4, #1, and #3; and the problematic lifters from the drivers' side are mounted in the #5 and #7 spot. The Sealed Power lifters were already returned to Advance Auto by then.
The video hasn't been edited and may be confusing (priming begins at 0:53), but as you will see, the Mellings barely dribble oil, the "good" old lifters shoot oil like no tomorrow, and the "bad" old lifters bleed down almost immediately after oil pressure is applied to them.
I also show how the old lifters have oiling holes at 90 degrees rather than 180 (straight up), and the video also shows me spinning one of the lifters 90 degrees to demonstrate that the flow doesn't change on the new lifters regardless of position (not that it's actually possible with the flats or the camshaft in the position they're in, but it does prove that the problematic lifters do not improve regardless of where the oiling hole is pointed)
At any rate, I must have tried every lifter bleeding trick in the book, and I've come to one conclusion and no other: Both the Mexican-made Sealed Power lifters and the U.S.-made Mellings are junk.
I now am awaiting a used set of Magnum roller lifters that one of the fellows on the Mopar A-Body forum disassembled, cleaned, and tested for his stroker small block until he decided to change the direction of his build. I'd rather have good used (and fully cleaned) lifters that work than new lifters that don't!
Oh well.
P.S.: I was hoping that I'd be able to clean up my workshop after the engine was done.
"JUST KIDDING!"
This is what happens when your car hobby money has to come from selling stuff on eBay. It's an explosion of project car parts - in boxes - alongside stuff that doesn't sell on eBay - in boxes - and random crap you don't know where to put - in boxes - plus projects you never had time to organize and threw - in boxes - topped with everything else you forgot to put...in boxes.
Heck, that engine lift strap is still hanging on my bike stand, and I didn't even notice that until this minute. Maybe I have to take more photos of my junk heap to figure out what to do with it.
That also reminds me - the fire-damaged LED light panel should come back in the house now, if it doesn't smell like bad barbecue still.
-Kurt
