So I'm almost done. New main and rod bearings, all tolerances where they were machined to, new cam, cam bearings looked great, new timing set, new TA oil pump/timing cover, new TA al. Stage 1 heads, all new seals and gaskets... ...the lifters. 1) they physically look different from the last set. Big deal. 2) 15 of them fit the bores perfectly 3) one is sloppy. Enough that I noticed Let me back up a little. I put the cam and lifters in on Staurday. Didn't notice any slop in this bore at all. Yesterday, I decided to put a little more assembly lube on each lifter and in the bores. The sloppy lifter was deep in the bore, the lifter was riding the circle. So I reached my finger in the valley and pushed it up. Felt kinda odd. So I played with it. It had slop. I put each lifter in there, it was sloppy. I put each old lifter in there, it was sloppy. I had two lifters as spares kicking around. They were sloppy. I took a long, hard critical look at this. Firstly, the bore looks perfect. It looks freshly honed like all the others. I don't have a magnaflux kit, but I don't think it's cracked. If it were cracked enough to make this slop without anything moving in the engine, I feel it would have broken while I was heaving on it (the aforementioned "playing with it"), and it didn't. Next, I cleaned the assembly lube off from around the bore and looked hard at the block with a flashlight. Something strange...there is a clearly stamped, upside down capital letter "C" on this lifter bore...what does that mean?!?! Nobody knows. It's a mystery. So. Here I am. 1) Is there supposed to be a little slop in one of the bores for the #4 cylinder? 2) Is there an oversized lifter I can get? 3) What's this "C" mean? 4) am I worried about nothing here, would an oversized lifter cause unforeseen troubles because I'm 'correcting' a non-issue? 5) Just how much longer can I drag this engine repair out, anyhow? :laugh: 6) should I get an E-Z bake oven and make cookies instead of all this?
I haven't the foggiest, but that's certainly logical...although something tells me that Chevy lifters are slightly undersize compared to a Buick's...could mean Cadillac, I suppose...but then again, I think they'd use a number stamp in that case. But as good an explanation as any, so far!
They should be the same size on the outside. The difference between Chevy & Buick lifters, is that the plunger is .050" lower in the Chevy lifter. If you've decked the block & heads to a total of .050" or so...that would work in your favor - as far as only needing stock length pushrods. Chris - grab a micrometer and let us know how the 'oddball' compares to the others.
I had this exact scenario happen to me. The *C* is for .010 oversize bore in that hole. I had to take a Ford (small block I think...) lifter that was .875 and have it turned down on a centerless grinder to .852/.853 to fit that hole. Then all was well after that. Jim
What you have there is an oversized lifter bore. It's a screw up from the factory. What you see as a "C" actually is probably an "O" for over size. Ihave come across this once or twice in the past. The factory, rather than scrap the block would just oversize the lifter bore and install a larger diameter lifter in there. I have not seen one, but have heard that they actually did an "o" and a "OO" oversize. The GM part number for the single oversize lifter is 5233005, should still be available. Buick was not the only one to do this. Jim Burek P.A.E ENTERPRISES
Wow, thanks for the info. Thanks especially Jim for that part number :TU: I can stop sweating now, I reckon. I was starting to think C for "100", as in 100/1000ths of an inch. "O" makes more sense :laugh:
Hmmm....GM is telling me that 5233005 is not a good part number...could you have mistakenly juxtaposed a number in there, Jim?
And here I thought I had heard it all? Sounds plausible to me...kinda like the 70 396 Cheby blocks that got the factory .030 overbore, i.e. 402 instead of 396.
No GM dealer likes that number. And when they ask the application, they all say "GM lifters are all the same for those cars" Anybody know a GM dealer that knows their stuff a little bit better? Or maybe an alternate part number?
I know that it is an old part number. My parts guy was able to cross it over. It's been a few years since I ran across the problem. I'll do some digging and see what I can come up with. Unless we have a GM parts guy on the forum that can research it for us. Jim Burek
Chris.GM # 5233005 changes to 5234345(.010 OS)both appear to be NLA.Someone may have good NOS lifters.Later,Tony.
NLA? Sorry for my confusion but...what the heck is that? I've had so much trouble getting parts this time around I assume it means "No Luck A'tall" ~edit Oh, I assume it's No Longer Available. Fantastic. So I wait another month to find one #%^@ing lifter. Super.
Chris.Yea..no longer available...sorry,just telling it like it is. What about Jim Weise?? You might be able to get the GM #`s crossed over in the parts aftermarket.Good Luck.Later,Tony.
Buick Farm ?? just a possibility.....while yer at it, check with PAW and EGGE. I saw a bit on EGGE on My Classic Car and was duely impressed with what they do. They re-manufacture a H U G E amount of stuff thats NLA How's that saying go ?? If you didnt have bad luck......
Oh, I'm not mad at you Tony just pleased as punch that I'm stuck...again. I didn't mean to sound angry at you. I'm on some painkillers right now for my neck and they make me feel sick and very disoriented maybe some GM place still has some...I talked to a GM parts depot out in the midwest last year that had a TH350 kickdown cable for the gas pedal...SOMEwhere, they just couldn't find it, but they knew they had it because they just did inventory Maybe JW can help, I'll send him a PM. I can have a lifter turned down, and I have a lead on a couple high performance engine builders that I can try. the crazy thing is, I rebuilt this engine 5 years ago with all stock lifters, and it was nice and quiet, no lifter tick at all. Didn't have proper oil pressure, obviously...but this lifter thing is killing me. All the GM parts counters I'm talking to are not only telling me that all GM lifters are interchangeable for these engines (yeah, if you want the wrong parts they're interchangeable) but also that GM never custom fit lifters to oversize bores at the factory. Of course, there is nothing the local GM dealer doesn't know, they are omnipotent
