Hey all need some help on where to go from here in the video attached you will hear what seems to be a lifter tick on my brand new rebuilt engine, thought I had an exhaust leak first but made sure that wasn’t the case and did some more investigation and seem like a lifter issue, there was no slack in any of the push rods when I pulled the valve cover and when I manually spin the oil pump drive shaft I get about 40psi at about 1200-1500rpms from what I can guess my drill spins at, I’m getting trickles of oil on the rockers and rocker shaft when I do this but it’s not squirting by any means, just don’t want to do damage and also need to get this thing on the road.

 

Solid or hydro lifters ?

 

The flow of oil is sometimes restricted for performance reasons either at the block or in the heads. Do you know if this mod was done or in place already? Another pinch point for oil flow relates to the two special "necked down" bolts used in the rocker stands. Those two bolts (one on each head) are a tad longer and if not in the right place can bottom out and allow too little torque to properly retain the rocker stand. According to Barry R, performance FE builders don't use these b/c they are trying to reduce oil flow to the top end anyway in order to favor the bottom end lubrication. IOW, oil flow to the top end is probably not the problem if the pathway is clean.
Assuming hydraulic, not finding loose pushrods should indicate that tappets are properly primed but this test should be performed at every point in the engine rotation where valves are supposed to be closed.
Are you sure that all of the valley plugs were replaced after block cleaning? There is an easily missed one behind the dizzy shaft. That would starve the top end and rockers for sure.
Finally, were the lifter bores measured and compared to the lifters used (presumed to be new)? Sometimes lifter bores need to be sleeved or bored to insure proper clearance.

 

The cam is a flat tappet cam, don’t know what restrictors we’re installed, the edelbrock rocker bolt kit bolts are all necked down checked that to see if that was the problem hoping for something simple, will check the rocker rails to see if they are gummed up, not sure on the lifter bores yes all new lifters and pushrods,

 

Silly things to check...either one will make the noise you're hearing.
- Looks like an aftermarket intake. Make sure the push rods are not rubbing the intake.
- If you kept the splash shield in the lifter valley, make sure it's not rubbing a push rod.

 

So doesn’t look like rods are rubbing on anything, I take it splash shield, I pulled the rocker rail on that side and just looked at the oil ports I did noticed one had buildup in it 4th rod in from the front, also pulled slightly on all the rods and everyone was pulling the lifter except the 4th rod in, makes me think that lifter might be stuck??? What should I do now the rod end looks fine so do all the rods???

 

Pull the lifter and inspect it.

 

A "brand new" rebuilt engine should start out with a thorough cleaning of the block and, for an FE especially, with the block galleys that all end with plugs. Those plugs have to be removed prior to the hot tank treatment and then manually scrubbed with what looks just like a rifle bore brush. Sometimes those plugs are NPT threaded hex units and sometimes they are just caps that are pressed in. Best practice is to use NPT threaded hex plugs throughout. Rocker rails can also be gunked up. Simply hot tanking the block may not be sufficient to clear these critical oil pathways. They feed the cam bearings and lifters.

Thus, the rebuilder needs to report to you in detail about these aspects of the build.

Another area of concern is that a 431 (stroker) FE might have a high lift cam with stiffer springs and that might endanger the rocker stands if they are stock. The end stands break under stress. Shaft based rocker system have some special considerations, see: https://www.diyford.com/ford-fe-engi...ltimate-guide/

 

Pulled the intake and checked out the lifters this is what they look like.

 

I'm a little late to this, but looking at the video, you need to talk with whoever built your engine. A running engine with the valve covers off should be throwing oil everywhere in the engine compartment. I don't think the problem is with the lifters but with the oiling system. There should be oil coming out of every crack and crevis of those rocker shafts.

 

Hmmm check out this video, is this right? Or do I have a galley plug missing?

 

Hmm. Wondering if there should be a galley plug there or if that how oil gets to the lifters???

 

YES, that should be plugged either with a Welsh plug or a pipe plug depending on the block. Also, you need to get all the antifreeze out of the engine if it gets into the oiling system it will destroy your bearings.

 

A correctly built FE engine does not pump excessive oil to the upper valvetrain. If it does it usually means that the rockers and or the shafts are worn out or messed up in some way. Here's a video that I've shared before of a 428 running on my dyno. This engine has a hydraulic roller cam but it uses the stock non adjustable hydraulic cam valvetrain. This is idling hot with 10W-30 oil.




Either way, the oil to the rocker arms is independent of the oil that feeds the hydraulic lifters the supply isn't derived from the same place. The hydraulic lifters receive oil from a passage way that taps into the main galley the one that's wide open in the video. You need to get that plugged and it should fix your problem.

 

Hope I'm not hijacking a thread, but is it possible to pull a lifter out without pulling the intake using a tool such as this? I ask because it seems I have a collapsed lifter on a 390 that happened out of the blue. The truck is with my father, who's pushing 80, and I'm 1400 miles away.