I put a fresh 455 olds Into my 56 Olds.
rebuilt C Heads a fairly mild Lunati Cam (think performer RPM).
I did not confirm the oil galley plug at the back of the block, Or that it had the tiny hole in it (an Olds Thing)

There was a little flash rust in a lifter bore... the lifter went in but it was a little tight.

Upon fire up, that lifter never pumped up, so i tore the Intake off and changed that lifter... the Cam looked good, so did the new pushrod and the new rocker assembly.

NOW the same lifter is having problems...so... I am thinking the lifter is an effect not the cause.

Is sounds OK at 25 mph (under 1500 rpm) but over that say 45 mph the lifter
seem to collapse, hard throttle it collapses, after a a block at 25 it seems to quiet down.
Seafoam helped a bit but didn't cure it.
I really don't want to pull it back out, but I think i may have to.

 

By chance what lifter is it? Is it in the middle of the row or at one end? EG: #1 intake or #3 exhaust?

 

So your saying it pumps up and then gets noisey at lower rpms? Is it major tapping to where it effects engine idle quality? Where did you use the seafoam? If the rocker assy is good, try draining a qt of oil and add a qt of rislone.

 

#7 exhaust, some seafoam in the oil,

I think i need to pull the valve cover and look at oil flow.

 

I've never used seafoam in oil. I thought it was just a fuel treatment.

 

I'm pretty sure you can use it anywhere...hell in Middle Eastern countries it's marketed as personal lubricant.

I don't think the seafoam is going to cure your problem. It almost sounds like you've got a blockage in the lifter bore or something. If it's just ONE lifter and there was some surface rust that's where I would start.

 

OK Valvecover off ran for about 3 minutes mostly Idling a few blips to around 1000 rpm.
Oil barely oozes out of the rockers on the left bank, after 3 min nothing still out to #7,
intake or exhaust.
I'm thinking bad pump or missing galley plug ??
but it looks like the motor is coming out.
Poop!

 

If that plug is missing on the rebuild, you would have next to no oil pressure.
Sounds more like that that lifter oil hole in the block is plugged part way.
As much I hate to say, pull the intake and that lifter and run the oil pump to see how the oil comes out. With the distributor out you can see if the plug is there, and you can run the oil pump and see the oil flow. The flow should be a stream not a huge flow.

Gene

 

X2...like I said above, if it's just the one lifter then it's not an "engine" problem, it's a lifter or lifter bore problem. Isolate further before you yank the engine.

 

X3

 

UPDATE.
I opened the motor up, intake and valve cover, pulled distributor.
Intake and exhaust had NO oil coming from the galley.
carb cleaner... seafoam...air pressure... over and over,

little black bits...
Then oil to the lifters!

but what about the little oil hole for the Distributor?
if its plugged, Am I doomed?

 

Did you have oil on your distributor gear? If so then it's not clogged. If not, while the distributor is out you can try to clean the hole out the same way you cleaned the lifter oil hole.
Good job cleaning the lifter hole by the way, I'm glad it was that

 

Sounds like who ever built the engine did NOT boil the block out. They did not pull those plugs out and run a brush through them.

Gene