I note the silver top zetecs have hydraulic lifters, and the newer black top have solid. is there any benefit?
automatic adjustment??
Solid lifters allow the use of more aggressive cam profiles and don't suffer from sticking as hydraulics ones can as they get older. They do however need to have valve clearances manually checked and adjusted.
Shimming up the valve clearances on a 16 valve DOHC engine isn't fun ---- give me hydraulic lifters any day.
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Shimming up the valve clearances on a 16 valve DOHC engine isn't fun ---- give me hydraulic lifters any day.
As mentioned solid lifters do take time to shim up if needed, but if a newish engine and it only does low mileage then you may never need to worry
about shimming them.
I had trouble with hydraulic lifters on 2 engines before i fitted a black top with solid lifters and also know of others that also had problems with
them sticking and pumping up even when using the correct 5/30 oil.
Paul.
As said, for boring normal engines with tame cam profiles hydraulic followers are good because they're low maintainance but for crazy cams you're better off with solid lifters but they'll take more effort to keep them from going tappety....
Wynn's Hydraulic Lifer treatment is magic stuff !
Most common cause of hydrauilic lifter problems is gum.
I add half a container (about 150mL) between services .
[Edited on 13/9/09 by britishtrident]
unless its a race engine I'd stick with hydraulic lifters.
Don't know on a zetec, but the vauxhall ones are fine to 7750 rpm or 8000 for shorter periods, and yep, setting the shims on a 16v engine
isn't a 5 min job........
If you have an infinite supply of shims its fine, but otherwise you really need your own surface grinder.
quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
unless its a race engine I'd stick with hydraulic lifters.
Don't know on a zetec, but the vauxhall ones are fine to 7750 rpm or 8000 for shorter periods, and yep, setting the shims on a 16v engine isn't a 5 min job........
If you have an infinite supply of shims its fine, but otherwise you really need your own surface grinder.