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Found this on the Internet and thought it might be of help to someone ??? NOISY Lifters
NOISY HYDRAULIC LIFTERS ON CHEVY 235, 261 Rev. 20 Sep 2010 bas

Much has been written and experimented with to resolve this recurring problem. Apparently air is entering the lifter from the inlet side of the oil pump or other source. Different lifters, sealed pumps, sealed pick-up tubes & sealed by pass circuits have had much success but not 100%.

After trying many of the above fixes, Grant Galbraith found 100% success by providing a small vent on each of the offending locations. Locate the noisy position and remove the lifter. Wipe with lacquer thinner and tape off the hole on the side and the entire top. Using a bench grinder, grind a “flat” on the outside of the lifter between the annulus and the top of the lifter. Grind about .005″ to .007″ deep. This will provide a “vent” for any air collecting in the lifter galley so that this air does not enter the lifter and cause it to be “spongy” and noisy.

Oil pressure will only be reduced by approximately 1 PSI at IDLE (If all 12 lifters are modified)



this article is by.
Tom Langdon

This could also reduce the oil flow to the lifters as the oil would be escaping whre the gringing took place.

FWIW, I've used ATF (at least a pint) with every oil change beginning in 1954 primarily to keep lifters clean (Fords, Chevys, Buicks, Olds & Fords). I stopped adding ATF when I began driving Crown Vic's with 4.6 OHcam engines about 10 years back.

The only lifter noise I ever experienced during all those years was with a '58 Olds Super 88 and a '62 Chevy II (big 6) when I failed to add the ATF with an oil change. Both were low mileage, good engines. Both would clatter until I added a pint.

With each engine, I let 'em idle while clattering. I added the pint of ATF. Each would quit clattering before I got the hood closed. No one has to believe it but, why would I lie?

I'm not attempting to convert anyone to use ATF - just relating actual personal experience.

To each his own - - -

You must be some kind of nut...I'll have to try it...

My dad had a 1953 V-8 Dodge with a small hemi and it had hysraulic lifters. after the first oil change it's lifters rattled like crazy. He took it to the Dodge dealer where he bought it new. They asked him what kind of oil he used. He used non-detergent 30 wt. The dealer told him to add a can of Bardahl oil treatment, he did and 30 seconds after he started it up it quietened down. Later (around 1957)I had a 52 Chevy with a powerglide engine it had always had either Quaker State or Amalie HD oil in it, never a problem with lifter noise. I went to work for Phillips Petroleum company and my first oil change was at a Phillips 66 station (Unique non-detergent oil) The next day I Drove to work and the lifters clattered and the engine missed and stuttered. I got home drained the Phillips oil out and filled it with Amalie HD oil that was green as grass. The old 235 babbit pounder perked up and quietened down almost immediately. I have no reason to lie.

Just might be you have found a cure for this problem. Sometimes the simple things in life work the best, anyway it's worth a try.
Bardahl, haven't herd that one for a while, do they still make this stuff ?

I may or may not be a nut. Anyone can be insulting!

A journeyman Chevy mechanic (a good one!) told me to use ATF for lifters when I 16. (I didn't think it up myself.) Turns out, he was right. It always worked for me!

No one has to believe it and/or try it. As I said, "To each his own"!

I have been using ATF for many years as it was suggested to me by my friend who worked in a restoration shop. If you try it let us know what you think.

Those of us who were around during the early years of hydraulic lifters recall many of 'em made a lot of noise. You may recall, Olds V/8 lifters were particularly prone to rattle. So, most mechanics were asked to fix 'em. The really good, honest mechanics searched for ways to cure noisy lifters. For many, ATF turned out to be a successful method to keep 'em clean and quiet. So, they recommended the use of ATF as a cure for noisy lifters.

'Looks as if I'm not the only one who was told about it.

I didn't mean to be insulting... I believe you...I was just clowning around... I'm the nut...

Oh, wait a second...you probably already figured that one out...

Kevin and Gaither: Both of you are great guys. Nuff said.

Now back to the thread.

I don't really understand the additive issue. Seems to me that good working, clean hydrulic lifters shouldn't need additive. I wonder, are the additives merely masking a deeper problem?

You can tell that I'm not a fan of additives - other than Marvel Mystery Oil - and can't understand why any are needed in a good engine.

I need more convincing and testimony on the use of Bardahl and ATF automatic transmission fluid. Not that it doesn't work but in the sense that it is needed. Seems to me a thinner regular oil might work just as well. Or is it merely a noise that a healthy engine makes. If the latter is true then, I would deal with it rather than trying methods to try and reduce it. Whatever. Your call.

Respectively,
Charlie

I think the problem is the engine oil sludge that settles out in the lifters and the oil channels and stops the flow of oil into the lifter when it needs the hydraulic cushion. The ATF and Bardahl keep the sludge from forming inside of the lifters. The oil will drain out, usually when the engine is not running and then the lifters fail to "pump up" and start to run in the collapsed position and effecting an excessive valve lash, thereby causing that annoying "rattle". I have noticed the same rattle in modern Chevrolet engines when the oil level in the crankcase get's too low and the engine is starving for oil in the upper regions of the engine.

Okay Charlie, do you got it now?

Bardahl...Sounds so fimiliar...Can't place it, as I recall...I keep thinking it was a 2 stroke oil...Must be thinking of something else...

Bardahl and Wynn's Friction Proofing oils were the two most popular oil additives in the 1950's. Both were heavily promoted in racing advertising. Bardahl looked like motor oil but had a burt eletric odor. Wynn's was thin like keresene and had a distinctive odor. There were probably 20 different oil additives back the and many made for freeing stuck, noisy lifters and sticky valves and piston rings. GM even sold an additive of a concentrated detergent for noisy lifters. Later GM EOS was used for that purpose as well as camshaft break-in. In the laer years motor oils got so good that adding something to the oil was not recommended and today the oils do a good job so additives are hardly necessary.
My favorite additive years ago was Almite CD2. It is still sold today. Almite (of the grease gun/fitting fame) also had a motor oil that we carried at the dealership in the 1950's. Are "main" oil was Mobil Oil but we carried Pennzoil, Wolf's Head oil, and Almite and The Pennzoil and Wolf's Head were Pennsylvania oils which some owners preferred as they had a
"stronger body" than the mid-continent oils.
The Mobiloil was rated as a 10W-20W oil , like an early version of a multiple viscosity oil so we or the owner could use it summer and winter.
In 1954 Mobil came out with Mobiloil Special which was a high detergent (for its time) 10W-30 oil and we advised it for engines with hydraulic lifters. It sold for 45 cents a Qt. back the tha the other oils were 35 or 40 cents a Qt.
We also kept #30 oil for Chrysler products, etc. that required a "heavier" oil. All of the mentioned oils contained some detergents at that time as well as other additives but nothing like todays oils.

Bardahl was touted as a "super slick" oil additive - which, by actual demonstration, was better at reducing friction than regular motor oils. The sales demonstration used a single roller from a roller bearing clamped in a portable grinder. A drop of oil on a bearing roller would smoke and then damage the roller stopping the machine. Then, a drop of Bardahl, placed on another roller, would not even stop the machine. It was that good as a friction reducer. It was available in quarts and pints. They also sold a small can to be used as "Top oil" in your fuel tank. It was fairly expensive and thus we didn't sell much of it at the service station.

Once I put a pint of Bardahl in my Cushman. It made the little 4hp one-lunger noticeably faster. The Cushman was .060 over with an aluminum piston and aluminum high-compression head and had already been clocked at 60mph.

Interestingly, our school bus driver had a '39 Chevy Town Sedan which leaked a bit at the rear main (how unusual!) without any side affects or problems. He put a quart of Bardahl in it. That night, he went to a local drive-in movie. When he got ready to leave, the '39 wouldn't pull itself off the little "hump". He had to have it towed home. The Bardahl had gotten on the clutch. It required a new clutch disc and a lot of cleaning. True story! The blasted stuff worked.

I could tell you about a personal experience with a quart of Slick-50 but you wouldn't believe it, either.

You can still buy some of the Bardahl products. Anyone remember the unlimited class race boat "Miss Bardahl"?