My best buddy, who gave me his '68 442 4-speed convertible, said he quit driving it back in 1983 because a lifter was making noise. I found paperwork showing the engine was overhauled by the local Olds dealer in KC in 1972 at 74k miles (my buddy was an easy mark). Car now has 94k miles on it. The paperwork shows new rings, bearings, timing chain, gears, cylinders honed, and valves ground. Cost him nearly $700. But nowhere does it show new lifters, so I'm pretty sure it has the original lifters in it, especially since he thought that's where the noise was coming from. Can I just go ahead and replace the original lifters, or do I have to do something else to the valve train, and if so, what? Any advice would be appreciated. I don't want to have to replace the camshaft or the rocker arm assemblies, but I want the thing to run right.

 

You can replace only the lifters, but you have to break them in just like you would for a new camshaft. Also I would replace the rockers and bridges as those tend to wear and create gaps that could cause a tick associated with lifter noise and they are not expensive.

 

X2 on the rockers and bridges i had a sludge monster 1978 260 cutlass back in the day i bought from a friends mother it ticked like a sewing machine, i cleaned the sludge from under the valve covers opened the drains and replaced all of the rockers and bridges allong with several oil changes all ticking went away.

 

Agreed that rocker / pivot wear is common and often causes this problem, but you often have just one worn, and can replace that set (for about ten bucks, if I recall), and all will be well.

First thing is to start the engine, though.

Put plenty of penetrating oil in the cylinders, let is sit a week or so, then turn it over nice and easy with a breaker bar.
Get it moving easily, then pull the distributor and spin the oil pump (COUNTERclockwise) with a half-inch drill and a 5/16" socket until oil comes out all the rockers, then re-stab the distributor and start it up.

- Eric

 

x2 with Eric.

 

My best buddy, who GAVE me his '68 442 4-speed convertible (quote)

That is a true friend! Congratulations and good luck with bringing this baby back to life.

 

with all due respect ,penetrating oil really isn't oil and won't do the job of lubricating the rings\ cylinder walls properly ,especially for an engine that has sat for 30 years. squirt plenty of transmission fluid in the cylinders before you try to turn it over [with the spark plugs out] and you will have far better results. otherwise sound advise from our knowledgeable CO members.good luck ,hope all goes well

 

Fair enough - leave penetrating oil in for a week, then squirt in motor oil or ATF after getting it to turn, but before trying to start it.

- Eric

 

Yep, he GAVE me the car. I've told this story before, but when were in Jr. College in KC, he had a full time job at night as a computer operator at the big Sears warehouse, and he bought the car brand new, and has kept it all these years. We chased alot of girls in that car; he had the $ and I did all the talking. We actually caught a few of the girls we were chasing, but most escaped. He's never been married or had kids, so he told me that if anything happened to him, it was in his will that the car woulld go to me to give to my son when I passed. Last fall he called me and said he was tired of storing it (it was last tagged in 1983), and to come get it, so my son and I did. I have pics on my earlier post. So now the restoration process begins.

 

What do you mean by the bridges? Are you talking about the rocker arm assemblies? Can you get the rocker arms on the shafts assembled? I checked with our local O'Reilly's and I think all they have are the individual pieces. Also, thanks everyone for the valuable advice.

 

 

My attempt to reply to the above post didn't come out correctly; I was trying to quote Eric and ask him a question about his advice. Sorry for creating confusion.

 

Nope. Get it started first. No need to change them if they're fine.

You've never heard the sound that this engine makes, or if you have, you haven't heard it in thirty years. Get it started and listen to it again, to see what's going on.

That being said, if you want to take off each set of rockers, look at the contact surfaces of each rocker and pivot, and replace the set that looks different from all the others, that would be reasonable.
The best way is to rotate the engine until each cylinder is on compression at TDC, with both of the valves closed, and no tension on the pushrods - this will let you spin the pushrods between your fingers, to be sure they aren't bent, and to see if any of the rockers has more slack / looseness than the others, which would probably be a sign of wear to the pivot contact surfaces, but could also be a sign of a collapsed lifter.
In the best of all possible worlds, the rocker pivots should be removed and installed with no pressure from the pushrods. The torque on the bolts is 25 foot-pounds.


No. The valve timing will be the same.
As long as you mark the distributor when you pull it out, and put it in the same way, the ignition timing should be within a couple of degrees - enough to start it and finish it up with a timing light.


You're welcome - we'll see how valuable it is when you get your engine running.

- Eric