VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 54 hydraulic lifters

I'm having some issues with hydraulic lifters making intermittent noise on my 52 powerglide.
I fed complete 54 powerglide innards to my 52 block so I have a high lift cam with the lifters without the oiling/vent hole in the top. The engine has the complete high pressure oiling system from the 54 and I have modified the oil feed to the lifter gallery by having oil feeds front and rear.
My question is - would I be better off getting the 50 - 52 style lifter with the vent hole and modify the lower end of the push rod to let oil bleed out? Also can you still buy this type of lifter?
Any help would be appreciated,
Many Thanks,
Ian.

I've seen a groove cut into the bottom of a pushrod to help bleed the air.

Thanks for the reply but this only works on lifters with the bleed hole in the top,
Ian.

The 1954-1958 lifters were resigined for the higher lift cam used for those years. 1959-1962 has a low if cam as did the 1950-1953.
Most of the lifters made today are fits-alls and don't work good in any engine.
What kind of lifters and cam are you running?

Thanks Chevgene,
I can't remember where I brought the cam and lifters, it was purchased a long time ago. We measured it against the old 54 cam and it seemed to be the same. Can the 50-52 lifters be used or will they not cope with the high lift cam?
Ian.

You will discover that finding QUALITY hydraulic lifters is not easy. Many threads on this subject,

Patrick Dykes of Patricks Antique Car and Truck has written on this lifter quality subject.

The lifter,camshaft story.
1950-1952 lifters were the same. They had a single oil fill hole on the side and an air bleeder hole on top.
The 1953 lifter had three oil fill holes around the body of the lifter and no top hole. A forged steel camshaft was used. Oil to lifters fed from rear cam bsaring - 1950-1953. The 3 hole lifter was discontinued from parts stock and the 1950-52 liftere was sold for replacement.

1954 changed to a cast iron aloy cam and the lifter body changed to a "wear resistant alloy body and a check valve ball spring was added". The cam lobes were "higher" for greater valve lift and due to the higher lobes the cam journals in the block and front mounting plate cam opening increased in size. Also stronger valve springs were added due to the higher valve lift.
The single lifter fll hole was used with the bleeder hole on top. This set-up was used until very late 1957. Then the block was redesigned and the front abd rear cam bearings fed the lifters.
1959-1962 went back to the lower lift camshaft. Weaker valve springs were again used and the lifters designed for the lower lift cam.
A hydraulic lifter does not depend on oil pressure to fill. The up and down movement of the inner piston does that job however the lifter must be surounded with oil to happen.
Thru the years some times on some engines a lifter would loose oil when the car was driven at high sppeds only to refill when slowed down. This was most common on th 1954-1958 engines and replacing all related parts often did no good.
Todays replacement lifters are often of poor quality, troubelsome and they make one lifter for all applications.

back in the '50's it was not unusual to replace all lifters due to varnish, etc. With modern detergent oil that as become history.

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Patrick Dykes, where he touches on the subject of hydraulic lifters.

"Let's solve the "hydraulic or solid lifter question" now... "Solids' were the rule on every Chevy '6' through 1949 (either '216 or '235 "Loadmaster"). Between 1950 and 57. solids came with every commercial or "stick" (passenger) transmission, whether '216 or 235 or 261 engine. Hydraulics went only with PowerGlide equipped cars. From '58 to '62, every block was drilled for hydraulic lifters, though some had solids installed. (Hydraulic lifters will only function in a block that has the oiling passage drilled through the lifter bores) this hole will be plugged and visible on the rear of the block, just above the cam plug.

(**special note: there are, currently, no satisfactory aftermarket hydraulic lifters available. So, we suggest you install a solid-lifter cam/lifter combo,)

'58-'62 engines must use a lifter with chamfered sides to prevent shutting off rocker arm oil! No oil line from rear cam bearing to block-center will be found in the pushrod chamber of these engines; and, in addition to the I.D. criteria (above), will have a triangular side-mount pattern".

There are some errors in the above....will comment later

1950-1955 stick shift cars had solid lifters as well as trucks.
1956-1962 car engines all had Hyd. lifters and trucks had solids.
The 1950 - 1957 ewngines fed the lifter bore from the rear camshaft bearing. A passage was drilled in the block that connected from lifter bore to lifter bore. The oil passed around the recess in the Hyd. lifter. An engine with solid lifters did not have this feature.
This engine also had a short oil line in the push rod compartment(began in the lower rear area of the push rod compartent) that also took oil from the rear cam bearing and piped it up to the top center of the block where it traveled in block and head passage up to the rocker arms.(not to be confused with the 216 oil line that went through the center of the block). Solid lifter versions of this engine got the oil to the rocker arms in the same manner, it just did not got to the lifters.
In 1958 (actually in very late 1957) the oil line was no longer used and the lifter passage was fed oil from the front and rear main bearing via internal block passages. The oil then went up a passage in the center of the block and on to the head and rocker arms. This required all blocks to have a passage drilled from lifter bore to lifter bore.
This required the oil to pas around the lifters in a solid lifter engine so the solid lifers had a recess in the sides like a Hyd. lifter. If the old straight side lifters were installed the oil to te rocker arms would be blocked off.

Thanks for the information guys,
I since found a set of aftermarket lifters in the shed with the bleed hole In the top. I'll fit these and see if there is and improvement.
At the moment one lifter is making a noise at idle, (not above or below) One lifter also starts clattering at higher speeds.
I'll keep you informed.
Ian.

Patrick said solids were included on stick shift cars until 1957, meaning 1956 was last year for solids.

Gene said solids ended with 1955 passenger car. Correct?

You would think a place like Patriks would know better.and for a place that sells camshafts and lifters.

From the 1956 Engineering manual Chevrolet proudly announced "For 1956, a more powerful engine designated the Blue Flame 140, will be regular equipment in all models, regardless of transmission. Outsanding features of this new engine include 8.00 to 1 compression ratio, high lift camshaft and hydraulic valve lifters."
The solid lifter, lower lift cam and slightly lower C.R in 1955 prduced 123 HP, the year before, 1954 it produced 115 HP.
The 1955 265 V-8 with standard transmission cmae with solid lifters. They were so difficult to keep adjusted properly Chevrolet paid to have the dealer install a hydraulic lifter cam when the owners complained..

"You would think a place like Patriks would know better.and for a place that sells camshafts and lifters".

Patrick is a sharp guy, and being in his 70's, I would guess he had a momentary disconnect. My disconnects are more often there, than not.

And I don't even remember my 70's.

Understood .... just keep remembering all the Chevy facts for the rest of us.

Gene,

Did any of the '54 hydraulic lifters have three holes?

I have a set of 12 of part number 5230920 supposedly NOS in original GM boxes. In the '54 parts book, it shows these as '54 only. They have three holes around the side, and a smaller bleeder hole at top. In the parts book, it says "rib around oil groove". The lifters appear to have two small raised ribs going around the circumference. There are no other identifying marks on the lifters.

Thanks,
Dane
'54 210

Dane,
Yes, that was the original lifer used in 1954. I forgot about that one. It was more or less a refined 1953 lifter. The 5230920 was discontinued for replacement on 7-1-56 and replaced in parts stoock by the 5231450 lifter. Same function different design. If I were replacing the lifters is a 1954-19578 I would not be afraid to use them. Certainly better than ant new lifter today.

Thanks guys
I fitted the aftermarket 52 lifters and all seems to be fine after a quick test drive. I used the 54 push rods and made a groove on the bottom to bleed the lifter through the top.
All nice and quiet now.
Ian.

Always good to hear when a problem is rectified.

Enjoy your quiet 235.