So I recently picked up a straight,solid,non running 65 Buick Skylark convertible with a 300 in it. After replacing the battery,starter,solenoid and fried wiring harness I was finally able to get it running. Letting it warm up and playing with a sticky choke and adjusting the idle it ran fairly smoothly except for some clicking in the valve train. So I thought I would slowly drive it around the block a time or two to check the brakes.transmission and steering. But first I transferred the plates from my truck to hopefully avoid being stopped by our local LE. In any case the car was running about 10 minutes when it died luckily in front of my house. Hey , no problem it could be anything. so I pushed into my driveway and prepared to change the oil now that it was hot. Imagine the look on my face when the previously black dirty oil was now flowing from the pan like a vanilla milkshake and water was leaking from the head. Well hopefully I'd only blown a headgasket which it only turned out to be. Took the heads and intake manifold to my local machinist for a bath in the hot tank, some magnafluxing, a valve job and a .020 haircut. Tell me if I'm mistaken but I believe the blown headgasket was caused by the cooling ports in both heads and intake being totally blocked with rock hard sediment.... duya think? Well with a fresh top end I thought I would take care of the valve noise with some new lifters. Well after all the noise above we finally get to my question. It's been over 20 years since I put an engine together and I'm old so I'm prone to forgetting. Am I going to have any problems with the new lifters on the old cam. I'll be putting it together with liberal amounts of break in lube on the cam,lifters pushrods and the valve stems. Thanks for your answers guys,
New lifters on old cam is ok. Use lot of break in lube, and break in like a new cam with higher rpm and no idling for 15 minutes. Your block will still have corrosion in it. You can try some was acid cleaning to try and clean the whole cooling system. Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone
Can't help but years ago had a 64 Skylark with a 300 and a switch-pitch trans.. It ran really well(fast) and that trans felt like a turbo kicking in.. I loved that car... Good luck with yours....
If you can take the extra time to slide the cam out, I would look at the cam bearings before proceeding. Given your description of what oozed out of the pan it won't hurt to take a look. While its out, I would run one of those ball type brake cylinder hones through each lifter guide to help insure the new lifters will rotate and not be locked from rotating by any varnish. It only takes one to ruin everything. I would place a large absorbant rag/soft towel below the bores and spray a little kerosene in the lifter bores. That will help keep any abrasive or residue out of the lower engine. Carefully remove the towel and wipe everything clean with carb cleaner. My unproven personal opinion is that a lot of cams get wiped because lifters don't rotate rather than spring pressure and lack of lube. I'd put a new timing chain in too......... Edit: Also, buy good quality lifters, lots of offbrands and junk out there now.
Thanks guys, yes I plan to do all of that. The motor is relatively low mileage with no ridge in the cylinders and a good cross hatch also. If it looks like it needs a timing chain I'll pull the engine and just go thru it completely. I hate to do work twice if I don;t have to.
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