Hot Rods flathead adjustable lifters

I have an Isky Max-1 cam and springs with adjustable lifters in my flathead ford. The lifters are the Ford ones I think not Johnsons. The heel on the cam lobes is smaller than stock so the lifters end up adjusted further out than the stock setting would be. Because of that they have difficulty holding their settings over time. I have one lifter that is far too loose and won't hold its setting. I have tried staking the threads and I have tried using Loctite but nothing has worked so far. If I could fit a locknut on it I think it would work but how do I get the lifter apart without removing the head. I don't want to remove the head if possible because I know it will really be frozen on those studs. Has anybody else run across this and discovered a solution?

 

The lifter can NOT be removed without removing the head & associated valve assembly.

 

As far as I know Ford never made adjustable lifters for a flathead. I once gat a set of lifters at a swap meet and more than 1/2 of them wouldn't hold the setting. Great buy.

 

I have a 400jr cam and have the same problem. Have had limited success with staking the threads. Loctite only works when you get all oil off. Ford made adjustables for tractors.

 

wonder if it's the ones i see on ebay that are described as nos johnsons from the '50s. any hambers have
experience with them?

 

had that same problem eons ago. are you using ford valves or chevy valves? i used stock valves and had to run the gap at .020.

 

Using ford valves and will be pulling heads soon and hope to be able to indo a permanent solution

 

i think chevy valves are long enough to solve the problem

 

I am running stock ford valves. I didn't realize until after the engine was built and running that the lifter adjustments would be out too far to hold their settings. I would have put lock nuts on if I had known or I would have bought the Isky lifters which would probably be designed to work with that cam. I was told that Ford made some adjustable lifters for trucks and that is likely the ones I have. Longer valves would certainly be another fix but I don't want to do a big rebuild at this point. I will probably pull the manifold and try to stake the threads again. Bigger hammer maybe.

 

I save what ever information on flatheads that are of interest that may help one day. Here is a sdsmith33's solution for valves that includes a jam nut on the adjustable lifters. This is an excerpt of the thread attached & the informationcan be found about 2/3rds on the way down the page at this link.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-8ba-rebuild.961489/#post-10904083