Lifter hits head[ - how do you deal with this ?

[Belgian1979]

Attached photo. I'm checking the condition of my lifters. I have however a problem with the lifters of cyls 1,2, 7 and 8; see the below photo.



I know I should have grinded off part of the material of the head boss in that location, but there's not much to be changed there. Anything else, aside taking the heads off ?
PS : not that there is any need because my lifters are in excellent condition.

[Newold1]

Obviously you are asking about the lifters being removable and the interference problem removing a set.

Since the engine is already down to this stage if it were me I would remove the heads and do the relieving needed so in the future any roller lifter problem could be removed and checked, especially the feel on the rollers themselves.

Can you post a pic of one of the lifters with the lifter down all the way on the backside or the lobe at no lift?

What brand or part number aluminum head are these. Some brands and GM numbers have enough material missing here in the original casting so this does not become an issue.

If you are just looking at some of the wear patterns on the roller and bodies that is not a complete indicator of the condition of the roller lifter. Rolling the lifter wheel in your fingers really gives some feel as to the condition of the axles and needles.

[Dragsinger]

as a test, with both lifters down, see if the forward most lifter [one near your finger] can be lifted out while leaving the rear lifter in place [pivot the link bar] if it will slide out you might be able to wiggle the other out [again, pivot the link bar]

[pamotorman]

tape off the lifter valley and cut the the head with some one holding a shop vac to catch the chips.

[Belgian1979]

heads are Dart Alu pro1's (215).

I'm checking the lifter wheel operation for smoothness and play.

[1972ho]

Are those comp elite lifters ,and what lifter did you have before are is this a new build.

[Belgian1979]

Morels. Engine is 3000 miles old.

[Walter R. Malik]

Take the heads off ...

almost every small block 8.2" deck FORD engine has to deal with this when using tie bar roller lifters and I'm sure there are others out there.

[cgarb]

At least you figured that out after they were in...lol. ok heads are on, let's put the lifters in....nooooooo. If it were me, I would buy new head gaskets and do the clearancing with the heads off the engine, I would just feel better than getting aluminum shavings everywhere and hoping I got them all.

[MadBill]

The lifter shown is up high enough (barely) to check the roller where it is. I'd say flush it and any other that can be raised this high with brake clean or whatever and then rotate the roller with a fingertip to feel for roughness. It's not as good as having the lifters out in your hand, but with good parts and assuming you've been tracking for lash change, I would not pull the heads unless you felt roughness in these or the removable lifters.

[Belgian1979]

It's a minute amount of interference I'm looking at here. What I did was the following : I placed a paper towel on top of the lifter valley and tucked it in so it was close against the block/head. I used a hand file to just slightly remove material, taking out the paper towel to throw away the shavings that fell on it and test for removing the lifter. Took me a while to do one lifter, but since this is done by hand, the shavings don't fly around nearly as much. Have 2 of the corner lifters out already. Cleaned the pushrod hole, head area and block valley real good afterwards.

[Newold1]

Well buddy, you are learning the hard way. Your first post admitted you "Should Have" and you know "Must".

You are therefore sentenced by the Court of Performance Engine Maintenance to several hours of slow painful "hand" labor! Court Dismissed! HA!

[Belgian1979]

Ha, yes. But I'll get there. It beats taking off the heads. And in the mean time I'm at easy with my lifters that seem fine. Revkit did its work apparently.

[BigBlockMopar]

For added safety, you could saturate the paper towel with oil or a good smear of grease so anything that falls on it will stick to it at the same time.
Or get a 'big block' instead