107 build, stock bottom end, FM B heads, Wood 999-6a cams, FM pushrods, S&S TC3 oil pump and cam plate...

Started with the Wood lifters that came with the motor. After 1000 miles break-in time, one of the Wood lifters stuck open on a WOT pull on the dyno. Tuner caught it immediately, tore down and found the issue. To expedite the issue, he only had Feuling 4000 HP lifters on hand and replaced all 4 of them before continuing with the tune.

I never really realized how much lifter noise I had until I was next to a buddy's bike last weekend at start-up with a heavily built 95". His motor is quiet as a pin on cold start. Same person assembled my motor and his.

I readjusted the pushrods last weekend, set at .140 preload(4 turns and 2 flats) from zero lash, on TDC of compression stroke, with the lifters on the base lobe. Still a ton of lifter racket.

Should I assume this is a Feuling issue? After having one of the Wood lifters stick, I am pretty wary about reusing them even if they offered to replace them.

 

In my experience, lifters of the aftermarket variety used with adjustable pushrods always present themselves as a learning experience. I run S&S HL2T hydro solids which come with an instruction to back them out six flats from bottomed out. Sure. Tried this. Tried 5 flats. 4 and three. My best result has been to adjust them 1/4 turn off bottomed out. Finally got an acceptable result at that setting. Therefore I believe lifter manufacturers give a conservative setting for their customers to work towards. Cause they don't want blame for getting valves in contact with a piston. Your own best result will take experimentation such as described above. If you go that route, make sure to get your rear tire off the ground with the spark plugs out, roll your engine over with the rear tire in 5th or 6th gear very slowly, and feel for possible valve to piston interference. Hammer performance has a good instructional on setting S&S HL2T lifters. I realize these aren't your lifter type, but a good primer none the less. Good luck.

 

Lifters don't stick open unless they stick in the case bore. More than likely they collapsed.. Woods lifters are made by Johnson Hylift.. They have a tendency to do that.. Going to travel limiters and adjusting slightly off bottomed is a good idea.

 

i run the s&s spacers also but closer to .050. this gives me some movement to quiet the lifter and runs more solid than not. running solid on hydraulic grind does alter the timing but for me it works well and i can take it to 7.5k. no worries about cold start nor lifter malfunction.
lifters have bleed rates and must match what your engine needs.

 

This is correct, I misspoke and said stuck up, I meant stuck down IE collapsed.

I ordered a set of S&S's standard lifters($107 shipped) and am going to put them in this weekend and will report whether the noise is better or the same(cause it couldn't get any worse lol) as the Feuling lifters. Then I will go from there. I've already paid $300 for one set of lifters that failed so I really didn't want to go another $300 to the S&S Premiums with the limiters on such a mild build and mild cam. We will see, I guess.

 

We use S&S std lifter here on almost a daily basis, on top of cams as aggressive as a Wood 9F.
.140" lifter load, and the engine oil viscosity for the ambient air temps.
Pretty darn quiet.
Scott

 

Honestly, you along with most/all of the well-known builders on here ALL saying that the S&S standard lifter is a go-to in your engine builds is the reason I decided to go with them instead of spring for the premiums. We'll see.

I will throw this out, Bob offered to replace the 1 "stuck" lifter if I mail it back to him. He said the only way it could be "stuck down" is trash getting in that particular lifter forcing it to stay down, as its "spring loaded" and "can't collapse."

 

We use S&S lifters and valve-train products, as we do not want to do the job twice.
Had another client this winter supply us with S/E(?) lifters to us for an 88"-107" engine build.(he installed the engine)
After a mild break-in on his part, he had it tuned........lifters showed to be an issue.
We installed a set of our stocked S&S lifters, and the engine went silent.
Scott

 

Just as Scott stated, I am running S&S lifters with the stock push rods and Red line 20W60, no noise on top at all. No need to spend more $ on lifters