VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Hydraulic or solid lifters for 235 in-line 6?

Hello there,
I've read in various places, seen various youtube videos etc, for and against replacing hydraulic valve lifters with solid ones whilst retaining the hydraulic profile cam.
I'm more than a little tired of my hydraulic lifters sticking intermittently, sometimes putting the engine down to five working cylinders before waking up to six and running perfectly for a while, only to start rattling loudly again.
So, I am keen to eliminate this problem by what ever means.
I have fitted new hydraulic lifters and already cut slits into the bottom ends of the push rods.
Has anyone tried solid lifters whilst retaining the hydraulic profile cam?

Cheers,
T

You can not use solid lifters on a hydraulic cam. If you do the valves have to be set at a very wide clearence and will be very noisey. If set so they are quiet the engine will not even run at idle speed.

The replacment lifters made today are problematic.
Note that the original lifters were different from year to year.
1950-1952 same
1953 only-
1954-1958 same
1959-1962 same

You did not mention what year engine you have but the 1959-1962 had no problems as they ent to a lower lift vam and weaker valve springs which put less load on the lifters.

Thanks for that. Mine's a '54.