During my engine pre-assembly I have to perform some measurements obviously without the engine running providing the lifters with the pressurized oil to the lifters. If I were to do this with my hydraulic lifters the way they are, the inner plungers would collapse, providing errors in the measurements. So in order to perform these measurements I need to either buy a solid lifter the same size as my lifters or take apart a pair of my lifters and make them into a solid lifters so the inner plunger won't collapse while making measurements. I had talked to Comp Cams tech support asking them about getting a pair of solid lifters with the same measurements as my hydraulic lifters. They told me that they do not have any, so the choice was made for me. I was forced to dissassemble a pair of my lifters and make them into a pair of solid lifters.
First I had to remove a retaining clip that holds the plunger assembly inside the lifter. It was actually a smaller version of the spiral locks that I used on my pistons. So because I had the experience from using them on the pistons I removed them fairly easy. I wish I had a magnifing glass though because my eyes are gettting worse as the years go on......
The cup was removed along with a spacer
I found I had to remove the tie-bar that holds the lifter pair together. The tie-bar rivet was preventing the plunger from sliding out. Unfortunately they were pressed in so had to be driven out with a punch and hammer. After doing this I don't think I will be reusing this lifter pair in the final assembly, I will just purchase a new pair (I checked and made sure I could buy a pair first, in case I had to). Cheap insurance I suppose, instead of trying to return them to the hydraulic set. I will keep them in my tool box, who knows maybe I'll build another engine.
Below the picture shows all the parts of the lifter laid out. From right to left: spiral lock, pushrod cup, spacer, plunger, spring and lifter. The tie bar is above all the pieces.
Next I had to fill the space inside the lifter body that would have normally been where the spring sits. I got some small washers and nuts to do the job. This actually took a little while to figure out how many washers I needed to bring the plunger to the same spot (flush with the spiral lock groove in the lifter body). With one nut and one washer I was able to have the plunger in the exact same placement in the lifter as when the spring was in.
The picture below is a view looking into the lifter with the nut and washer inside
Installing the plunger back into the lifter
Installing the cup and spacer back into the lifter
Installing the spiral lock back into the lifter to hold it all in
And that's it, a hydraulic lifter made into a solid lifter for measurment purposes. I did the same with the other lifter.
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