Lifter chipped on 8BA

[Chuck41]

Hey all,

Hard to believe this is my first post. I can’t count the times when the expertise on here has saved my bacon over the 3 years I’ve had this car.

41 Ford with a 49 8BA engine and adjustable lifters. I needed to inspect and adjust the valves because the engine had developed a tapping when cold that seemed to be coming from the right front of the engine. Sure enough, the No. 5 intake valve had about double the spec on the clearance. Three others just needed a slight tweak and the rest were good.

The problem is that when I put force on the adjuster, my homemade lifter holding tool chipped out the top edge of the lifter at one of the holes. Of course I let it happen twice, so now I have two with a chip. Once I realized how my tool was causing this, I fixed it and the rest went great.

Obviously this is not good, but it does not seem like the lifter is structurally compromised. Would you run with this? What do you think the risks are? Not really wanting to pull the head right now.

Thanks,
Chuck

[Cecil/WV]

I don't think I would worry about it, if it is just a driver!

[marko39]

Looks like a crack in the left lifter boss in your picture.

[Chuck41]

Yes, I'm trying to pretend I didn't see that. I have no idea if that is a big deal or not.

[Chuck41]

Any risk of the chip causing a stress crack or something to form? Has anyone ever heard of a cracked lifter?

[Bored&Stroked]

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I wouldn't worry about the cracked adjustable lifter - was probably done during installation when they set the lash.

Your block wasn't "drilled" for adjustable lifters (to put a rod through to hold them as the tappet wrench is used), to they probably used those goofy Thompson tools that go into the holes at the top (to hold the lifter). My guess is that they chipped the top during that whole lash setting process. I'd not worry about it in the least.

On the lifter bore - does look like a crack, hard to tell. I'm not worried about the crack as it is, but over time it may progress downward toward the center of the block. I'd inspect it closely - under magnification. If the engine was apart, I'd mag it and if needed, I'd drill the end of the crack to keep it from growing. This is not really something you can do when the engine is together.

Best of luck!
B&S

[deuce_roadster]

Yeah, I would be concerned about that lifter bore crack. If you choose to do nothing at this point I would start the process of lining up a good block as it can take a while to find one now days. At least be ready for when you find water in the oil and oil in the water. Good luck.

[cadillac512]

I wouldn't be concerned about either issue, Chuck. The chip on the lifter surely won't cause any problem, and the possible crack...well, not much pressure in that area and the rest of the bore is pretty robust for the load it carries. IF it's a crack (and it may just be a ridge in the casting that has collected color from the oil) the likelihood of it migrating to water is almost nil since there isn't any in the center of the valley.



Terry

[petehoovie]

[Chuck41]

With closer inspection, I'm pretty convinced it is a ridge in the casting. Looking from the top, it doesn't penetrate the sidewall at all. And the chip... it shouldn't affect load carrying capacity. Well, if I have any exploding lifters I'll let you know!

[Mart]

Yeah, Chuck, button it all back up and pretend you never looked.
It'll be fine.

Mart.

[Chuck41]

Thanks all - really appreciate the help!

[Fordestes]

I too have a pristine block except for a crack at the top of one lifter bore , it is about 3/8"X 1/4 chunk broken out at top, I am seriously thinking about sleeving the bore and stop drill the crack as to avoid the crack from migrating on down into the valley of the block, I have never sleeved a cracked lifter bore, I am thinking mabe a bronze sleeve, Opinions wanted.

[Frank Miller]

Originally Posted by Fordestes

I too have a pristine block except for a crack at the top of one lifter bore , it is about 3/8"X 1/4 chunk broken out at top, I am seriously thinking about sleeving the bore and stop drill the crack as to avoid the crack from migrating on down into the valley of the block, I have never sleeved a cracked lifter bore, I am thinking mabe a bronze sleeve, Opinions wanted.

A guy sleeved a lifter bore in my dad's A block back in the 80s. Still going strong. There was a chunk missing at the top of the bore.

[Kube]

I would not, under any circumstance run with that. Perhaps the issue is only the "chip" at this time. How long before that chip migrates into a crack? I'd suggest sooner, rather than later.

[Don T]

Perhaps a bit of useless info and hard to believe but here goes. 8BA, the block was cast defective, one lifter bore in this engine has NO metal in the center of the bore. The top 1/3 of the bore is complete and machined, the center 1/3 there is no metal there to machine, that is the opening in the casting is 3/16" wider than the machined bore, the bottom 1/3 of the bore is normal machined diameter. There is about 50K miles on the engine, the lifter itself does not look any different than the rest of them (but I am sure if measured there would be a distinctive wear pattern). When assembling the motor I made sure the same lifter went in this bore. If it got to this mileage in this condition it seemed like a good idea to not mess with it. Somehow a chip in a lifter or a (maybe) crack in a bore would not bother me.

[cadillac512]

Originally Posted by Don T

Perhaps a bit of useless info and hard to believe but here goes. 8BA, the block was cast defective, one lifter bore in this engine has NO metal in the center of the bore. The top 1/3 of the bore is complete and machined, the center 1/3 there is no metal there to machine, that is the opening in the casting is 3/16" wider than the machined bore, the bottom 1/3 of the bore is normal machined diameter. There is about 50K miles on the engine, the lifter itself does not look any different than the rest of them (but I am sure if measured there would be a distinctive wear pattern). When assembling the motor I made sure the same lifter went in this bore. If it got to this mileage in this condition it seemed like a good idea to not mess with it. Somehow a chip in a lifter or a (maybe) crack in a bore would not bother me.

Exactly. I'd have done the same, and not fretted about it either.

[Chuck41]

Originally Posted by Don T

Perhaps a bit of useless info and hard to believe but here goes. 8BA, the block was cast defective, one lifter bore in this engine has NO metal in the center of the bore. The top 1/3 of the bore is complete and machined, the center 1/3 there is no metal there to machine, that is the opening in the casting is 3/16" wider than the machined bore, the bottom 1/3 of the bore is normal machined diameter. There is about 50K miles on the engine, the lifter itself does not look any different than the rest of them (but I am sure if measured there would be a distinctive wear pattern). When assembling the motor I made sure the same lifter went in this bore. If it got to this mileage in this condition it seemed like a good idea to not mess with it. Somehow a chip in a lifter or a (maybe) crack in a bore would not bother me.

That is pretty amazing. There's a lot of redundancy and over-design in these things. It's like Roman engineering.