hey guys got a problem thats driving me nuts ill give you specs and problems and lmk if im missing anything....

88ci shovelhead

i had a typical rockershaft and rocker box oil leak...
got some new gaskets and seals and went to work, everything was going great till i took the pushrods and the rear cylinder off and seen some scoring on piston
and cylinder wall.... engine is 10 years old and they were revtech cylinders so i bought a new set of pistons and jugs from S&S same specs that i had on the old ones...
put them in and everything going great, i had a lifter cup broken on the front cylinder exhaust side so i bought a new set of hydraulic lifter units and put them in...
break in was butter smooth 2nd kick fired over and idled perfect....

after about 10 miles started getting a clanking sound from the front cylinder right near the exhaust.... came home asap looked at everything and everything looked fine
dropped the oil clean and new no metal nothing..... cleaned the tappet screen it was clean so i checked the pushrods all were fine all in spec except the front exhaust pushrod it was loose...
loose as in spun way too freely readjusting them and nothing no matter how much i turned them out i cant get a consistent drag...
got fed up and ordered brand new s&s lifter assemblies... went to install them after cleaning and wiping them off and right out of the box one wont hold pressure at all so i had a extra new unit swapped it

installed it all and still cant get to get a consistent drag out of the front exhaust lifter..... am i missing something?

keep in mind bike ran absolutely money rode 250 miles to daytona and 250 miles back for bike week without a hiccup at all only reason for teardown cause i wanted to fix my oil leaks

looked at the cam journals when i did the lifter assemblies smooth no scoring no wear marks,
in the rockerboxes looking at rocker arms nothing out of the ordinary i hear the clanking put my hands on the rocker boxes and cant feel any hitting at all

and again bike still runs amazing till it warms up and just clanks but still idles fine still pulls good like it did...... a $50 gasket and seal job turned into a $2k job really quick and its to the point i just wanna ride again and not have my bike sound like a diesel

please help me out guys ill try anything at this point and im sorry for the long read im just trying to cover all the bases and give you as much background as i can

 

you said - you looked at the cam SO you had the lifter blocks out and the entire lifter out of the blocks

question -- you do know that the lifers are directional as in they only work installed with the flat on the side of the lifter faces each other both front and back

reason I said this is you have only one doing this

 

yep both facing inwards

 

guess is you have no oil pressure going to the one for some reason - as it never pumps up - now I have seen some take a while - how many turns you can go as deep as 4 but you need the correct starting point so 3 is the most till it pumps up - then as it comes in only hot with a clatter 1/2 then another 1/2 - but I don't think your getting oil

you could switch the two as the one is working and see what happens

 

no they are filling up with oil i started it let it run and went on a few mile ride it was quiet and then got loud,
i let the lifter get oil in it and pumped up and soon as i start to extend the pushrod it holds pressure and pushrod is hard to spin and within 2 seconds can spin it very very easy...
i even swapped out the one from the intake side that holds pressure to the exhaust side and did the exact same thing... lost pressure

only time i can get it to be a consistent drag is if i compress the spring fully and then and only then will it be consistent and i dont think that would be good for the lifter or the pushrod

ive just been having some bad luck with the lifters and dont know anymore what else to try... im gonna take the lifter assemblies out tomorrow and see if there is any damage or anything unusual ill keep you guys posted

 

did you put and glue on the lifter block gasket

did you check to see the lifter block gasket oil holes align with the engine hole - and the lifter block to confirm its not partly blocked

you need to post up some pictures of what your using in the parts

 

While following what John outlines.. remember that not running, bleed down is normal... but, while running they should all be consistantly "pumped up"
I suspect an oil supply problem, Like John is Chasing. If it gets down to it.. check how much oil is being sent to the bottom end... if not restricted, it can get the majority, while the valve train, and Overhead suffers...
I seem to recall that S&S needs a "jet" in the end of the Crank.....as a restriction... I know our T&O bottom ends had it...

I'm sure John will elaborate...and yer in good hands...

 

Think maybe John got you close. I had this problem last month. Mine was front cyl exh.....damn lifter block was not drilled completely ( chrome crap). But it had enough of a hole to get a small amount of oil...1/8 down to a tiny needle hole the last .250 of the hole. I took it apart also because PO owner could not get the push rod tube to seal.....finished drilling hole. Lifter pumps up and push rod tube doesnt fill with oil. Maybe pull the lifter blocks out and run a wire thru the passages.. turn it over by hand and see if you have oil coming out of block passage no restriction. It’s possible but I don’t think you have a lifter problem when you switch exh to intake a VV. You have and oil pressure problem close too that one lifter. O and mine clattered too when passage was restricted. Saw this before....guy used silicone on lifter blocks. Also a guy honed a set of lifter blocks to get the chrome out and over clearance . Lifters leaked like a SOB.....4 different shops missed that one.

 

thanks guys for all the help im going to pull the lifter blocks tomorrow and check it out...

no glue on the lifter block gaskets

only thing that confuses me is cause the intake pushrod on front cylinder holds pressure and i can adjust it accordingly and is getting oil
just cant get the exhaust side to but im going to pull it apart and check everything keep it coming guys let me know what else i could be missing

i didnt think of the passage on the chrome blocks ill run some compressed air and get them squeeky clean.....

 

Look at them close...the one I found in my personal one would let air thru.....but I took it outside in sun and my old eyes saw it was chocked down. Run a drill thru them....not positive but maybe 1/8... good luck. O and mine was front cyl exhaust also! Chrome blocks PO installed