Another solid lifter thread - anyone have them yet?

[bleet]

I recently rebuilt a junkyard engine, so now I have two sets of lifters. One from the original engine, and the other from the rebuilt engine.

Well out of the 24 lifters I have about 4 or 5 good ones it seems.

I'm really interested in either realnissan or tulsaturbo's adjustable conversions but I wanted to hear results.

I guess I could always jump right in....

Thanks for any replies!

[deviousKA]

I am making my own set, i have 10 completed going to finish the rest and install today. Basically just like a realnissan or tulsa turbo just a bit more lightweight. Solid lifters are great, i had a different set on my 2.5l previously with pdm cam and they worked excellent. With solid lifters you will want to check your valve lash periodically.

[bleet]

I am making my own set, i have 10 completed going to finish the rest and install today.

I am very interested in doing this, however I'm worried about my skills, and the quality of my tools. If I can save money it seems like the time would be well spent - of course assuming I can do it right.

Would you be willing to share your secrets? Fabricating something like this on my own is out of my league, but a little help can hurt

[deviousKA]

A kind person let me in on some secrets, i dont think i could tell you, he cruises these forums and might be kind enough to let you know. The processes involved in making these, the appropriate tools, and jigs you need to get them made up get expensive for the first couple of sets. You cannot make one set yourself as good as realnissan/tulsa turbo for under $250 considering the initial labor. If you are only wanting one set for your personal engine i would recommend buying.

btw. the person i got the info from lives in austrailia and sells the conversion also, his name is SSS on these boards. He might be able to sell you a set as well.

[fo0manchu]

I'm in the process of making them myself as well. Made one so far and it was pretty easy! If you look at all the other adjustable rockers, all it is ... is a threaded rod and a nut to secure it in place on the top and the inside is threaded as well.

Heres what I did, I took the apart the hydraulic rocker assembly. Its kinda of tricky but you get used to doing it after awhile. If you ever taken apart bearings for a skateboard its kinda like that but smaller. From the assembly i just kept the end that contacts the valve. It kinda like a little tube, bought a threaded rod... shaved down a nut to put inside the rocker... drilled a hole on top and thats it. then add a bolt on top to secure the rod, and thats it. J.B weld the tube to the threaded rod and also J.B weld the shaved nut to the inside of the rocker.

Sounds kinda confusing, guess you'll have to actually see the rocker to understand how it worked. I'll try to post some pictures!! It should work, my only concern would be the bolt shooting through the rocker at high rpm's.

but, well see what happens. In all, the assembly should work fine. final cost.... about 6 bucks a rocker + labor time.

[fo0manchu]

Heres how the final product looks. The whole assembly is weighs about .2oz more than a stock rocker. Does anybody know any bad effects this might have on springs, valve train.. etc.? Or is the weight difference to minimal to have a drastic effect?

[deviousKA]

you are going to have valve cover issues. I have heard of the conversion being done this way (using stock lifter cylinder with adjuster on top) If i works it works i guess. So all you have holding the lifter cylinder from coming up is a shaved down nut? with jb-weld? for the work youve done their i think you could have gotten something a little be lighter and much stronger.

The hydro lifters and ka24e rocker assembly are very heavy as it is. I opted to go the strongest and most lightweight that i could, my converted lifters are no taller than stock (good because ka24e has low valve cover and lifters come close). I will shoot some pictures tomorrow.

someone i know has lifters gutted with inserts pressed in to house z series type adjusters. They work well but the lifter has to be ground down to far for my liking

[fo0manchu]

oohh, didn't think about the valve cover clearance. I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the heads up.

As far as the shaved down nut, it actually sits up against the back of the rocker on the inside too. I drilled the hole only big enought for the threaded rod to go through but not the insert. And the rod is heat treated(dunno if that makes too much of a difference?) Whenever people hear "J.B weld" the project is considered ghetto. hehe, but its okay cause I'm the king of ghetto projects. But anyways, the tensile strength of the shaved nut with J.B weld should be alright seeing how its backed my the rocker and force is pushed up in that direction.

yours sounds way high tech though, makes mine sound like a flinstones model . That would be cool if to make if I had the funds for it. But I was just bored one day and had the motor out, waiting for the rest of my datsun 510 to be finished so I took one off and played around with it.

Thanks for the heads up on the valve cover clearances deviousKA, Like you said, if it works it works, but if it doesn't... then I guess i'll have to put more thought into it.

[deviousKA]

ok i see what you mean, a lot stronger than i imagined. You could grind down your nut and rod a bit to get some more clearance, as well as modify the inside of the valve cover like tulsa and realnissans. Mock it all up and use some modeling clay to check your clearances.

[fo0manchu]

thanks devious, I'll check that out tomorrow if I can. I still want to see your setup though, it sounds cool. Post picks if you can please.

Do you think the weight difference in the rocker will be a big concern? I was aiming for it to be lighter than the stock one or the same, but I guess not.

[deviousKA]

heres a few shoddy pictures of the lifters

[deviousKA]

here i was trying to show the bottom of the adjusters

[deviousKA]

another

[fo0manchu]

cool, I was actually thinking about doing that, shaving down the top of the rocker. But, I thought about it and took the cheapy way out. Im a cheap bastard!

Btw, those look awesome. Good job DeviousKA :ylsuper rock on!!