78 bus with solid lifters help!

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[January 05, 2009, 10:21:13 AM] BusManVW70: Hello everyone Im new to the site and I have just added some pictures of my 1970 VW Camper his name is Fred enjoy..

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[January 06, 2009, 10:18:51 AM] JimmyD\'s: 1977 vw camper wont start HELP

[January 06, 2009, 10:19:09 AM] JimmyD\'s: her name is lucy

[January 06, 2009, 11:22:28 AM] Jamesbehave: whats going on

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:04 AM] JIMMYD: i have two shitty batteries I have been taking turns on trickle charges. So I put the fresh good battery in and she tries but

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:39 AM] JIMMYD: she won't flip. I've checked all the fuses.... rolled her back.

[January 06, 2009, 11:41:05 AM] JIMMYD: Found an old allman brothers ticket

[January 06, 2009, 11:42:02 AM] JIMMYD: the starter has always seemed fine.... no problems

[Today at 01:47:18 AM] rodon: tets

[GSmith]

I have a 78 bus and the lifters are really loud and have taken a couple out just to make sure and they are solid. When i first start it up its not to bad but as it warms it gets louder. If i set them at zero lash it stops but i am afraid it will burn the valves.

[fastmc25]

And you are sure they are not hydraulic lifters?  If they are hydraulic they will have a snap-ring on the top of the lifter where the pushrod sets.......Many times it takes a lot of pressure in a vise to collapse a lifter.  If hydraulic you should compress it slowly in a vise and watch the oil come out the side hole......i use a small bolt rounded off where it contacts the pushrod cup.... .


  If the engine is original then it will be hydraulic...... I would recheck.....

[GostaBerling]

 

I was about to say something similar

[GSmith]

I bought the bus from a guy that never could get it running the last time it was registered was in california in 1996. When i got it it wouldnt hit a lick. Spent 2 weeks trying to get the fuel injection to work finally found atwell bus pages and got it to inject fuel. the it would almost start and then nothing. Finally pulled it off with a tractor and it started but ran terrible skipping on three cyl. Checked the valves and noticed it had the big aluminum push rods according to atwell this was a good sign it had solid lifters. so i adjusted them to .006 and it started and ran well. but the lifters are really loud. Still not knowing i pulled the tubes and pulled out 2 lifters and they do not have the snap rings or plungers it is just a solid piece of metal with a space about half way down the a cup and has a whole in the side. The engine looks brand new inside the valve covers look brand new suppsedly this engine was put in and only had 500 miles on it i can stand the noise but i dont want to ruin a good engine. any suggestions?

[fastmc25]

I bought the bus from a guy that never could get it running the last time it was registered was in california in 1996. When i got it it wouldnt hit a lick. Spent 2 weeks trying to get the fuel injection to work finally found atwell bus pages and got it to inject fuel. the it would almost start and then nothing. Finally pulled it off with a tractor and it started but ran terrible skipping on three cyl. Checked the valves and noticed it had the big aluminum push rods according to atwell this was a good sign it had solid lifters. so i adjusted them to .006 and it started and ran well. but the lifters are really loud. Still not knowing i pulled the tubes and pulled out 2 lifters and they do not have the snap rings or plungers it is just a solid piece of metal with a space about half way down the a cup and has a whole in the side. The engine looks brand new inside the valve covers look brand new suppsedly this engine was put in and only had 500 miles on it i can stand the noise but i dont want to ruin a good engine. any suggestions?

It appears from what you say to be a solid lifter engine....... How noisey are you talking......?  All solid lifter engines , especially aircooled Vw's have a certain amount of valvetrain noise.......   I'd set them to .006 or a loose .005 and run it.... If you are really worried then i'd look into tearing it down and make sure they didn't put solid lifters on a Hydraulic cam as a shortcut.... Also check your oil for metal particles incase you have a flat lobe starting to happen on the cam......

[Dj:Eep]

What weight oil are you using?  My Type1 powerplant does the same thing.  Thicker oil seems to help.

[vdubyah73]

Side play in rockers will make an awful racket. When you are adjusting your valves try to wiggle the rockers sideways on the rocker shaft while still at top dead center, and set at .006. They should just move a wee bit. If you have one or two that you can slap around when loose, that's a lotta noise. Read up on shimming them. The rocker pad on the valve should be contacting the valve stem a little bit off center and there is a clearance tolerance so oil can get in. If it's a purportedly fresh rebuild that is what I'd look at, after being absolutely sure you have the valves adjusted properly 

[PopeSutek]

Side play in rockers will make an awful racket. When you are adjusting your valves try to wiggle the rockers sideways on the rocker shaft while still at top dead center, and set at .006. They should just move a wee bit. If you have one or two that you can slap around when loose, that's a lotta noise. Read up on shimming them. The rocker pad on the valve should be contacting the valve stem a little bit off center and there is a clearance tolerance so oil can get in. If it's a purportedly fresh rebuild that is what I'd look at, after being absolutely sure you have the valves adjusted properly 

They will make noise for a while after you adjust them, so you may want to check on them after a while. Noise should go away with in 3 days max, depending on how often you drive. If I was you, i'd go to hydraulic though. In which case you wont set them the same way at all, lil harder but worth it in the long run in my opinion.