1953 Rodmaster 322 knock knock who’s home.

[avgwarhawk]

Some digging I found Willies post.  Willie helped me figure what exactly was in 54 264.  I have the 54 264 block/heads but the guts are 56

 

 

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This time I will take more time and try to answer your question and the reasons why it is time to replace.

A few points to get others up to speed:

Two lifters were used in early nailheads 264 and 322

One was used in 53,54,55; the other was used in 56.

The earlier lifters had a deeper recess in the top than the 56 and used a different longer pushrod.

You can use 56 lifters in the earlier nailheads as long as you used 56 pushrods to maintain the same overall length.

The reason we would want to use 56 lifters in earlier nailheads is that they are more plentiful and much cheaper...you can buy a set of 56 lifters and pushrods for less than 55 lifters alone.

The earlier nailheads had camshafts made of different material than 56...53-54-55 used steel and 56 used cast iron and the different lifters were made of materials that were compatible with the respective camshafts.

When these lifters were originaly installed in their respective engines they lasted a long time.

When we substitute 56 lifters in an earlier engine we have incompatible materials that result in rapid wear.

I too used 56 lifters in a 55 and after 20.000 miles some failed to the point of wearing a hole in the bottom. Before I put the new 56 lifters in I had the cam checked and it was OK for service according to the machine shop. After finding the worn lifters I tried to put back the 55 lifters and pushrods that I had taken out (same engine, same camshaft) and found definite abnormal wear on some of them too. Looking closer and comparing to some other lifters from 55's and the worn 56 lifters, these 55 lifters looked just like the failed 56 TRW lifters except for the deeper recess in the top.

My point is after 52 years aftermarket parts have changed and consolidated and there is no way to know if you have compatible parts. Parts sold as 55 may be made from the same materials as 56. Maybe if you find some NOS 55 Buick lifters it will not be an issue. After 40.000 miles on a new 56 camshaft/lifters/pushrods the engine is quiet (I have not had a reason to look at the lifters to check for wear).

Hopefully the rest of your engine is in good enough shape not to need new cam bearings or a complete rebuild.

Willie

 

 

[KAD36]

27 minutes ago, avgwarhawk said:

My point is after 52 years aftermarket parts have changed and consolidated and there is no way to know if you have compatible parts. Parts sold as 55 may be made from the same materials as 56

The same tolerance stack problem is true of voltage regulators, ballast resistors, ignition coils, inner and outer valve springs, pistons, plug wires, and ignition rotor impedances.  All solvable.  Measure your parts.

 

Just sayin….

Edited September 28 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[avgwarhawk]

On 9/27/2024 at 7:50 PM, KAD36 said:

Both 56 pushrods and lifters were put in both the 55 and 56 engines after going the route of trying to clean the OEM 55 lifters.  The car had sat in my grandparents shed for probably 10-15 years with only occasional starts.  After trying to clean 5 of them, called it quits, getting mixed results.  I used Clevites and had stocked up in the late 90s on a couple sets.  
 

I put a new set of lifters on the old cam on the first 55 engine cleanup - guess that’s a no no but got about 60K miles out of it no issues.  Then rebuilt the 55 with new lifters new cam, then rebuilt the 56 and put new lifters on the original 56 cam after checking the cam against specs.
 

The cams were not ground nor cleaned up before putting the lifters on.  My shade tree assumption was the 322 valve spring pressure was relatively low it wasn’t going to be a high revving engine and if I put an average of 3-3500 miles on it a year I’d be statistically dead just before it hit 100K and figured it should last that long.  A purist with proper  shop skills shouldn’t mix new and used parts, but given my “use case” I ran with it.  Maybe I just got lucky.

 

Rockauto has Melling and Sealed Power lifters listed for 56.  They fit a wide variety of cars.   Rotella or other diesel oil was mostly used when the 56 lifters-pushrods were put on the 55 cam.  On both the rebuilds Castrol or Quaker State Dino oil and a few ounces of ZDDP are used. 
 

 

 

I did much the same.  The 264 was rebuild with 56 guts. The driver side head suffered a hardened valve failure that the previous own had done.  While the heads were off I proceeded to look for a tick at start up that as always there.  I replaced the lifter only.   Like many said, a new cam and lifters break in together.  Well, I decided just to replace the lifters and see what happens.  The cam was not wiped.  All is well with the 264.  As you stated, I suspect the spring pressures being low would keep lifters from wiping a cam that has already been run 10k plus miles.       

[KAD36]

12 hours ago, avgwarhawk said:

  All is well with the 264. 

Excellent - hope to see it in action someday.  Nice when they're not clicking clackin huh.  Keep on rockin!

Edited Wednesday at 01:39 AM by KAD36 (see edit history)