More on noisy (hyd) valve lifters

[bbell@csn.org (Bruce Bell)]

After removing the stock cam from my 4000Q I observed that the tops and the
bottoms of the cam lobes were "polished". In other words, the portion of the
cam that touches the lifter when the valve is closed, and the portion that
touches when the valve is mostly open were polished. The sides of the lifter
lobes did not look like they were making contact with the lifter. 

Unfortunatly, I didn't notice this until after I had removed the cam. So the
question is this: Is there a point just before the valve opens, where the
cam does not make contact with the lifter? Or, is the polishing less
pronounced on the sides of the cam lobe because there is more surface area
making contact with the lifter? 

Wish I had used the feeler guage on this one.  When I installed the Schrick
cam the lifters chattered pretty good for a few seconds, the car had been
sitting for a week. Since then I've heard absolutely NO lifter noise. Could
it be the extra duration of the Schrick keeps the lifters tensioned aginst it? 

Has anyone else installed a performance cam with their hydraulic lifters?
Did you notice a difference? I have had at least a little lifter noise on
start up almost every morning for the past two years. Not now.

I'm still working on the review of the cam. Takes a while to get good numbers.



Bruce

bbell@csn.org (Bruce Bell)