Solid lifter adjustment ???

[diesel_lv]

I've never had a solid lifter on a car. Many on motorcycles. This is more out of curiosity than anything else. On old Yamaha 450 Enduro, I would adjust the valves every month or so depending on how much n hard I rode. But I found they very seldom actually changed. On my '92 GSXR750, I checked adjustment every 7,500 miles, never needed it and it reved up to 13,000 rpm. On my '08 Kawasaki Concours 1400 I had the shop check it at regular intervals for 1st 30k miles. It never needed adjustment. It now has 75k miles and has never needed adjustment.
My question is why do our cars, or cars in general, with solid lifters need so much adjustment?

 

[biomedtechguy]

I don't have SFT lifters, but I plan to for the BMP aluminum block based 541 stroker. I expect the spring pressures to be "reasonable", as I have what I consider modest performance expectations of 700 ft lbs torque over a wide, flat RPM range, and I believe the displacement is going to aid in achieving that goal, and SFT lifters should be relatively lightweight vs rollers.
My understanding is that a well built valvetrain using quality components, along with a cam profile that isn't too radical as well as spring pressures that are not in the top range of pressure all lend to a stable setup that should stay w/in the range of adjustment, and after initial setup and break in, checking the lash should find them in spec and not needing adjustments too often, if at all.
None of that may help you, but look at it as the best tips I've read and also I'm looking forward to the answers you get from those with experience.

 

[PRHeads]

My Honda Civic has 180k.
Never had the valve cover off.

I had a 1985 Toyota P/U that the valve cover came off for the first time at about 220K.
I adjusted a few since the cover was off already, but none were off more than a couple thou.

 

[diesel_lv]

My Honda Civic has 180k.
Never had the valve cover off.

I had a 1985 Toyota P/U that the valve cover came off for the first time at about 220K.
I adjusted a few since the cover was off already, but none were off more than a couple thou.

I didn't know the overhead cam 22R had solid lifters. My '86 Toyota pickup had 375k miles when I sold it n sounded n ran perfect.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

They rarely need checked. Only on the high lift roller cammed cars with crazy spring pressures.. Diesels are pretty much all solid and I have seen some go a million miles with no overhead. Tractors can go 10,000 hours. But that is the extreme, everything is bigger and has very little wear. We generally don't drive our cars enough to have to worry about adjusting valves. Often I see someone just missed a adjustment the first time around. Usually you have to adjust from wear. If you have good a valve job, hardened seats and nice rockers, no reason to check. If you have to adjust more often something is wearing. You can sometimes catch a cam before it gets serious on a solid vs hydraulic.

 

[diesel_lv]

They rarely need checked. Only on the high lift roller cammed cars with crazy spring pressures.. Diesels are pretty much all solid and I have seen some go a million miles with no overhead. Tractors can go 10,000 hours. But that is the extreme, everything is bigger and has very little wear. We generally don't drive our cars enough to have to worry about adjusting valves. Often I see someone just missed a adjustment the first time around. Usually you have to adjust from wear. If uou have good a valve job, hardened seats and nice rockers, no reason to check. If you have to adjust more often something is wearing. You can sometimes catch a cam before it gets serious vs hydraulic.

That all makes sense to me. I guess I'm confused because I see so many people saying the have to adjust their solid lifters often and when recommending cam types always tell people to take into account lifter adjustments when deciding which way to go.

 

[wagonman]

FWIW I have 2 engines with solids. Iron headed Chevy 350 Comp cam and Crane gold rockers, last time I adjusted was about 7 years ago. A 470 B stroker Trick Flow 240s and 440 Source rockers, checked them after dyno runs and ran the lash all good. Both have fairly mild cams in the 550 lift range and springs to match. Now the 440 in the 68 has a Comp XE268 HFT and is one noisy SOB. Next time I will go with a Howards. I should have run the 509 I had but sold it but kept the NOS MP lifters. Dont be afraid to run solids they work well. If you are buzzing it to redline alot yeah then a little PM is a good idea.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

That all makes sense to me. I guess I'm confused because I see so many people saying the have to adjust their solid lifters often and when recommending cam types always tell people to take into account lifter adjustments when deciding which way to go.

There are some people that adjusting valves is not there thing...others don't like the idea of having to adjust valves and look at them as backwards. It IS a extra thing to do. Even when we are trying to be careful Oil on the headers can ruin the coating. Any of the big flat hyd/solid tappets we are trying to brake in with less spring pressures... so rockers are off anyway.
That is a Big plus for Roller cams. Put it together once...and run.

 

[threewood]

I have 2 Plymouth, both with solid lifter cams. I'll lash them once a year and they are almost always fine.

 

[RemCharger]

My Honda Civic has 180k.
Never had the valve cover off.

Must not be an older T-belt motor..

 

[Slap Stick]

Remember...a tappy valve is a happy valve. Especially when clearances are .008" as on my moorsickles.
On my Concours (no E-you walk through a concourse, you ride a Concours)
one needed to keep an eye on the clearances as they were known for needing adjustment for a while and then settled in....unless you were one of the lucky ones who got the Swiss cheese cams which wore the cam followers.

 

[dvw]

My solid flat tappet stays pretty good. Check it once a year just to look. Solid roller in the racecar? Every 20 passes. If you have a lifter issue you need to know early before it's a big problem.
Doug

 

[PRHeads]

Must not be an older T-belt motor..

2011..... it’s a chain.

The owner’s manual calls for valve adjustment “when they are noisy”.
They still aren’t noisy.

 

[diesel_lv]

Remember...a tappy valve is a happy valve. Especially when clearances are .008" as on my moorsickles.
On my Concours (no E-you walk through a concourse, you ride a Concours)
one needed to keep an eye on the clearances as they were known for needing adjustment for a while and then settled in....unless you were one of the lucky ones who got the Swiss cheese cams which wore the cam followers.

What yr is your Concours? I got rid of secondary butterflies, installed a tuner, full exhaust and had it dyno'd at 162 rwhp n 103tq. Not 1 issue in the 75k+ miles on it.

 

[Darter6]

The good 'ol Chrysler Slant six usually only needed 1 adjustment after they were new,then run for 100,000 miles or better.
The thing was no one ever took them in for adjustment and sounded like a type writer for most of their lives.
Now race engines valve trains take a pounding unlike a everyday street engine,thus adjustment checks need to be more often.

 

[Gsmopar]

Before every race, every 6-8 street outings, anytime I think I hear something. The only drift I’ve seen is checking cold lash winter vs. Arizona summer.

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[RemCharger]

2011..... it’s a chain.

The owner’s manual calls for valve adjustment “when they are noisy”.
They still aren’t noisy.

Wouldn't hurt to check.. the usual problem is eventually the exhaust's get too tight.(no noise, but slow degradation of idle and efficiency ) can lead to burnt valves.

 

[747mopar]

My current motor is my first solid lift motor, I was checking it yearly (3,000-4,000) miles but it never needed any adjusting other than miniscule amounts. I'm checking every other year now. I run nothing but quality 10W30 high zinc oil too (Schaeffer's).