new flat tappet lifters

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Schurkey

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Given the expected quality of flat-tappet (or any other) lifters today, I won't install them without AT LEAST pumping them full of oil to verify leakdown rate, and to assure that they pass oil to the pushrod socket. I had a horror-story with Comp Cams lifters for an Oldsmobile, that was missing a check-valve inside. Lifter would not pump up. Clattered like mad.

It would be even better to actually take them apart ONE AT A TIME to verify that the guts don't have machining chips or other debris inside.

I use a pump-style oil can with an inch of vacuum hose on the end to pump ATF (thinner than oil at room temperature) into the lifter fill-hole.
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Erik the Awful

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I saw a video a while back that recommended installing lifters dry because you could set the preload more accurately. While I agree that you could get more accurate, I also don't trust dry lifters to pump up.

I set my lifters in a bucket of oil overnight. I use a pushrod to cycle each one a couple times. If one feels a bit different, I'll pull it out of the bucket and check it.
 

Schurkey

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It's not a matter of "more accuracy". It's a matter of not forcing the valve open as you crank the adjuster nut beyond "zero lash". If the valve opens and the piston happens to be at TDC, you have the potential to bend a valve. In most cases, there's plenty of piston-to-valve clearance--but better safe than sorry.

Going slowly from zero-lash allows the lifter to bleed down so the valve doesn't open.
 
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