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By yblock32deuce - 15 Years Ago
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sure sometime in the past this has been answered,but in tearing down old engines, ending up with alot of lifters. anyone doing anything with them other than tossing or adding them to a bucket of scrap metal ?
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By speedpro56 - 15 Years Ago
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I would'nt use them, That's looking for a disaster to happen. Even when resurfacing you're cutting down the hardened shell to where it's just too thin to last. When using a new camshaft always use new USA lifters. Once the foot pattern is established from a new set of lifters and new cam they are not transferable to another cam or lifters. I've heard fo others using used ones but that's High stakes gambling in my opinion.
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By yblock32deuce - 15 Years Ago
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i agree spreedpro, wasnt thinking of using them, was hoping there was someone or company that does refurbish or recondition. the old in me just has a hard time throwing anything away
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 15 Years Ago
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I believe Nielson Cams, for one, has the ability to regrind and recoat lifters. At one time I think he even offered to buy used lifters, probably to refurbish and sell with his cams. It becomes an issue of cost of refurbishing vs cost of new. New ones are getting pretty pricey in my opinion.
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By aussiebill - 15 Years Ago
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Hoosier Hurricane (11/30/2010)
I believe Nielson Cams, for one, has the ability to regrind and recoat lifters. At one time I think he even offered to buy used lifters, probably to refurbish and sell with his cams. It becomes an issue of cost of refurbishing vs cost of new. New ones are getting pretty pricey in my opinion.Its an interesting question, i can only add that resurfacing them has been the standard practice here still and as you know there are some doubts on quality of new ones and "us" made ones are certainly getting dearer and fewer. I personally in over 40 yrs of building these engines have not expierenced any failures. 
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By Oldmics - 15 Years Ago
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The lifter face (what the cam lobes ride on) is not a flat surface. It is mildly concave so that it promotes lifter rotation and therefore oiling. I would be curious to understand the refinishing process including the concave contour. Oldmics
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By charliemccraney - 15 Years Ago
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I thought the faces are convex.
You can make them into Christmas Tree ornaments.
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By Glen Henderson - 15 Years Ago
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Some older valve grinding machines had a fixture for holding lifters and resurfacing them.
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By 314 - 15 Years Ago
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new may be a problem but i never had a problem with used cams and lifters. and i dont mean putting everything back in order.i pick out the best looking cam and lifters i have at the time.these are all stock cams.ive been doing this for 30 years.
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By MoonShadow - 15 Years Ago
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This used to be a common practice. With the expense of new lifters and the market being flooded with sub quality imports I think its worth looking into. Older machine shops may still have the fixture and knowledge to accomplish the refacing. Depth of hardening shouldn't be a problem on decent used lifters. Maybe someone should look for an old machine and go into the business? Tons of used lifters out there that could be redone if we can trust the operator to do it right. Chuck in NH
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By yblock32deuce - 15 Years Ago
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that basically was what i was hoping . that someone ,because of the inferior ones being sold, that there might be a 'second life' option for them. experienced a cam failure recently and after looking at an old original, noticed it is a much thicker mushroom than the new ones i purchased. not saying for sure that that was the problem but after purchasing a new cam and finding a nos set of lifters, havent experienced any problem. this nos stock was in old ford boxes btw.
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 15 Years Ago
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I would think that modern NC equipment could be programmed to grind the face of a rotating lifter and the grinding wheel also move in a curve to put the crown on. John M?? You have NC equipment, can it be done economically? My old valve refacer can grind them flat, but not crowned.
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