assembling the cylinder head help with lifters


  • assembling the cylinder head help with lifters

    i was assembling the right cylinder head when i noticed that the two of the valve lifters were abit higher than the others when putting the valvetrain on .i am sure that the timing is set correctly. is this normal when assembling the head?

  • #2
    look at the cam lobes under the 2 lifters that are higher.

  • #3
    yeah they are lifted where the others are flat

  • #4
    Leave the lifter/rocker arm plate unbolted while installing the head to prevent banging and bending the lifted valves. If the cam lobe is touching the lifter, then valve will be lifted.
    After torquing the heads down, and intsalling the t-belt, then you can retighten the bolts for the lifter/rocker arm plate.

    1986 300ZX Turbo…sold
    1990 Skyline GT-R…new money pit
    2014 Juke Nismo RS 6-speed…daily

  • #5
    leaving the rocker arms loose also helps if you're using an allen key/socket combination, where the key isn't long enough and the socket likes to bind on the rocker arm pivot shaft.

    1988 300zxt. gt35, stance, etc. Wheels: Varrstoen ES2 18x9.5 et-13 225/40. 18x10.5 et0 245/40
    1990 jetta vr6'd

  • #6
    The manuals to rebuild, replace, and reinstall a head indicate that you must leave the lifters/lifter plate off while installing, and put the timing belt on first properly before adjusting the lifter plate's torque values with the rockers and everything installed.

    I install with no spark plugs, and I rotate the engine 6 to 12 times depending on how late in the evening it is, and I torque and retorque both lifter plate assemblies in steps starting from 4 ft lbs to 8 ft lbs to 12 ft lbs to 16 ft lbs for ALL bolts on moving the value up every time I rotate the engine, and I use blue thread locker (medium, not permanent) on the bolts so that they do not back out from vibration, and because I used a tap on two of the holes rather than a rethreader because they were really gunky and deep, where the rethreader could no reach. (taps are a bit too aggressive for just "cleaning", especially head parts).

    Also, hit your local parts place and buy the red Engine Assembly Lube and put that stuff all over your cam and coat every surface that makes metal to metal contact (cam base circles, etc), and run some break-in worthy oil and flush it out after a couple of hundred K.