I believe that I have to replace my lifters in my 89 350 motor. The car is making a bad noise from the pass side valvetrain area. I took off the cover and inspected the rockers and push rods and found nothing. My buddy told me that it sounds like some of my lifters are not being lubricated and may be stuck?? This noise has been here for awhile and I have talked about it in other posts but just recently it has gotten worse to the point where I cant drive it. This isn't a constant knock like a rod or bearing has spun but rather like maybe one lifter is bad and when that piston either 2,4,6,8 is at TDC it knocks. Im not sure if this makes any sense but hopefully I dont sound crazy. Well my question is how hard is it to swap out lifters on an 89 350 small block? I was thinking of buying this kit to match with my Comp cams roller.. http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...C56081000.html

 

Did you start the car with the valve covers off?
That will tell if it's oiling good and also may show a weak lifter or more likely a broken valve spring.
With the car at idle you can take a piece of wood and push on each rocker till one quiets down or sounds different to find the offending cylinder.
If you can come up with a set of deflector clips for the rockers it would help keep the oil mess down while you do this.
Your sig says 60K on the rebuild? the lifters shouldn't be bad at that low mileage,I'd suspect a valve spring first.

 

What could cause a valve spring to break? Also what are the most likely causes of poor oil flow to the valvetrain? Thanks

 

Normal fatigue, high miles, over-reving the engine, or all of the above. Poor oil flow? Low oil pressure from a weak oil pump, or worn bearings letting some oil to get past instead of pumping higher in the engine.
And, it's aBAD idea to change just the lifters. Your cam and lifters wear (either evenly or unevenly) together as a unit. If you replace only the lifters, don't be surprised if you eventually wipe a lobe on the cam or gall the base of the lifters. If your lifters are in sad shape, I wouldn't be surprised if your cam isn't exactly in prime condition either.

 

I have to disagree with 69on the lifters.... the flat-tappet lifters wear out with the cam, but unless I'm terribly mistaken, roller lifters don't wear out. At least, thelifter doesn't wear to the cam lobe. That should be why the roller cams never come with lifters, from what I have gathered; and also one opf the advantages of roller lifters.So, you SHOULD be able to just replace the lifters since it's a roller cam. Of course if your cam turns out to be in crappy shape then you might as well replace it all at once too.

 

I bet he was thinking flat tappet,I know I was,the 89 engines have rollers stock?
Either way my money is still on a valve spring or rocker or maybe ball pivot under the rocker if not all the above,even more so if the lifters are rollers with less than 70K on them.
Might also be good to check for a bent pushrod, especially if it was over revved from a missed shift or something like that.

 

Yes he was thinking flat-tappet dammit!! Rollers started in 87 didn't they? I glazed right over his year. OK then, with rollers, I would look at the other components first. But still don't rule out the lifters. On a 4.3 I once rebuilt, the roller lifters were all gunked up with sludge inside. I dismantled each one down to the body, plunger, cap, and retainer clip. Cleaned everything real well, and put them back together. They worked fine, with no noise, and I saved a bundle on not replacing them since they were in otherwise good condition.

 

My cam isn't stock it is a roller cam from comp cams.... Whether or not the guy who installed them changed lifters with it or not is a different question. I will check into all these dreadful things.....

 

Hopefully the guy who put in your roller cam also put in roller lifters, and not flat-tappet lifters.

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If the cam was changed and the springs were not matched binding of the springs can cause problems. I dont know if this pertains to your block but in older blocks oil restrictors are sometimes used when converting to a roller cam they limit the flow of oil to the top end.