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I am in the process of rebuilding a ‘53 303 engine. To my surprise I couldn’t remove the valve lifters. After perusing my shop manual I found that a special (T-29 I believe) tool must be used. I know that this particular tool cannot be picked up at Harbor Freight and that some of you have encountered the same problem so is there a “workaround” for this issue. I have, of course, removed the heads and pushrods but have not tried a little bit of force to push the lifters out for fear of screwing something up.
Is the problem removing the valley cover, or are the lifters stuck in their bores? Varnish built up on the lifters can often cause them to stick. Even worse, if the ends are mushroomed that can damage the bore if you try to force the lifter out the top.
There are aftermarket lifter pullers. I've had a KD 2079 like this one for decades. The business end expands into the upper groove in the lifter and then you use the tool like a small slide hammer to extract the lifter. If the end with the jaws won't fit through the pushrod hole, it unscrews from the rod so you can put it directly on the lifter, then insert the rod from the top and screw it in. Note that if the lower end of the lifter is mushroomed, it is safer to pull all the other lifters then push that one as high up in the bore as it will go. Remove the cam then push the lifter out the bottom.
The valley cover was of course removed and all of the lifters (except the one where the pushrod was bent like a pretzel) move freely in their bores until the flat end of the lifter comes close to the bottom of the bore and then stop with a definite clunk leading me to believe it is not a problem on mushrooming of the lifter faces. If it were mushroomed I could, with a little bit of pressure get it to stick but no such luck. I'm wondering if there is a detent or snap-ring stopping the lifters. If need be I can remove the cam and hopefully they will drop out but that just doesn't feel right.
Are you sure this motor is all original? Mushroom lifters were a performance trick to effectively increase cam duration. Obviously they go in and out through the bottom once the cam is removed. Holding all 16 up to remove the cam requires old wooden clothespins.
All original??? that is a damn good question. I purchased this engine from a backyard mechanic who had it next to his garage and covered (partially) by an old tarp. I bought it mainly for the intake manifold, the 4 barrel original carburetor and the Hydra-matic 4 speed transmission. Just looking into weather the engine could be saved. Lots of rust in the water jackets so I'm doubtful. With the amount of crap stuck to the engine I cannot believe that this engine was ever looked at until it was pulled. Literally had to chisel some of the grease/mud to get it off. Nice green block underneath about an inch of crap. I'm going to go ahead and see if I can't drop them out while removing the cam.
Are you sure this motor is all original? Mushroom lifters were a performance trick to effectively increase cam duration. Obviously they go in and out through the bottom once the cam is removed. Holding all 16 up to remove the cam requires old wooden clothespins.
Or, turn the block upside down for cam installation or removal.
If need be I can remove the cam and hopefully they will drop out but that just doesn't feel right.
That might be your best bet. Like Joe said the bottom of the lifters might be slightly mushroomed and it does not take much to totally ruin the lifter bores. It could just be a big buildup of varnish/carbon but that will ruin a lifter bore too.
