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'53 100 - lifter access

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PSJ

PSJ

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Hello LBC friends. Thought I'd trouble you for some guidance, prior to diving in.

My Dad and brother have been working on my Dad's 100. The car's been blowing head gaskets; the current head has been machined several times and has relatively high compression - such that it has issues on regular pump gas. Dad and brother removed the old head; measured and thought about it; and my Dad purchased an aluminum head from Moss. When they went to install it, they thought that some of the lifters had become dislodged during the previous removal, and asked for my help. I have not yet seen the issue; so here come my questions!

Evidently the lifters can become dislodged from their normal path; and they can be re-located via removal of an access panel on the side of the block, allowing manual placement. From Dad and brother, the engine has to be lifted slightly to get access to the cover. The plan is to remove engine accessories (including the exhaust manifold from the exhaust pipe?); disconnect the driveshaft; engine and transmission mount points, and crank up the engine (via a conventional hoist) just enough to access the cover; and then access and re-place the lifters. It would probably make sense to place the pushrods at that time, I would guess, if that would help the lifters stay positively located. Assembly is the reverse of removal, with different swear words.

Any comments/suggestions? The lifter placement sounds relatively straight-forward . . . any experiences/things to look forward to with the aluminum head would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Phil
 
PSJ said:
Hello LBC friends. Thought I'd trouble you for some guidance, prior to diving in.

My Dad and brother have been working on my Dad's 100. The car's been blowing head gaskets; the current head has been machined several times and has relatively high compression - such that it has issues on regular pump gas. Dad and brother removed the old head; measured and thought about it; and my Dad purchased an aluminum head from Moss. When they went to install it, they thought that some of the lifters had become dislodged during the previous removal, and asked for my help. I have not yet seen the issue; so here come my questions!

Evidently the lifters can become dislodged from their normal path; and they can be re-located via removal of an access panel on the side of the block, allowing manual placement. From Dad and brother, the engine has to be lifted slightly to get access to the cover. The plan is to remove engine accessories (including the exhaust manifold from the exhaust pipe?); disconnect the driveshaft; engine and transmission mount points, and crank up the engine (via a conventional hoist) just enough to access the cover; and then access and re-place the lifters. It would probably make sense to place the pushrods at that time, I would guess, if that would help the lifters stay positively located. Assembly is the reverse of removal, with different swear words.

Any comments/suggestions? The lifter placement sounds relatively straight-forward . . . any experiences/things to look forward to with the aluminum head would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Phil
Click to expand...
I had both 100's and 3000's and when you take the pushrods out you want to twist and try to put some sideways pressure on the pushrods to keep the lifters from following them and popping out of their holes. There's some good suction with the help of oil on the machined surfaces of the pushrods and lifters where they contact each other. Sounds like you have a good plan to fix the problem. Beer is better than swear words! (I always put my lifters in first and then the Head followed by the pushrods. You'll know when you get the pushords seated in place).
 
Don't think you'd need to lift the engine, just take the manifolds and carbs off and the long rectangular cover plate is right below there.

block.JPG
 
Thanks all! Your information is very helpful. I have one additional question - regarding the gasket for the access cover. Is that gasket commercially available? It shows as "not available" at Moss; and I was unable to find it on bighealey.co.uk . . . . worst-case, we'll have to make one, but I think it's pretty big (and thus a little more difficult to do well).

Thanks again! I really appreciate your input and assistance . . .
 
Hey PSJ,
You can get one from AH Spares in UK. It's a complete gasket set so includes more than just the head gasket but you might need the others anyway.
Regards,
Mike
 
Although I don't know if I have done it on a 100 I am pretty sure I have done it on other LBCs, even if the lifter comes out of its hole you can slide it around a little and get it back in with the head off pretty easily?? I welcome other comments, but if the head is being replaced I think you have pretty good access, and it is very easy to tell by feel if you can't see it, that the lifter is in fact "home".
 
Hi all! Just closing the loop. Did the work over the weekend; it was indeed pretty straight-forward. Just had to lift the engine enough to remove the driver-side motor mount, which was interfering with the removal of two of the tappet cover plate fasteners. Thanks again for all your help!

Phil

PS: four of the tappets were out of position
 
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