[ponjohn]

Originally Posted by Fastmonty

Guys, I just went through this too... a Lunati HR blew up on me, with around 2000 miles on them. I ended up filming the entire deconstruction and rebuild process on YouTube. The lifter sheared off, and ate some of the Cam. Here's the video where I found it... go to the 19:00 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/y_iPx4CiMTg

That said, I'm still not an expert at this, but have learned a TON from this incident. In my case, the anti-rotate bar pin broke, the lifter spun 90 degrees and the cam sheered the Roller off. (Here's the video me fishing the roller out of the pan, https://youtu.be/r_LCmaS8nis) I originally got these from Butler Performance, over 5 years ago. They talked to Lunati, who talked to Morel, who makes them... they agreed with my prognosis, and refunded my money! That's awesome customer support right there. Anyway, I upgraded to Johnson Lifters. Per Butler, they said all of the manufacturers who make HR retrofit lifters have failed for one reason, or another, but by far the most reliable they've seen, come from Johnson.

Now all that being said, I have two takeaways. One, HR's should not be making noise, after the engine heats up, per Jim Butler. (At least not clacking) Two, Lifters must be thoroughly cleaned, BEFORE putting them in the engine. This is something that really isn't documented anywhere. (For example, there are no instructions that came with my Johnson Lifters). The reason is, Lifters are made from Hardened steel, which is heavy in Carbon. If you let them sit, without some sort rust preventative, they'll oxidize, almost immediately. Soooo, manufactures use a rust preventative during final assembly to ensure their product doesn't rust while sitting on the shelf. This rust preventative is extremely sticky, as compared to oil, for obvious reasons. If this "sticky stuff" isn't cleaned out of the plunger, it'll have the propensity to jam up in operation. I actually tested a few of the plungers on my Johnson set, before and after cleaning. There was a huge difference in plunger performance, after cleaning.

I haven't fired the recently rebuilt motor yet ... (while the engine was out, I decided to upgrade to a Hydraulic Clutch, and TREMEC 600, which I'm also filming) I will film the first fire, and hopefully will not hear what I heard before the tear down... ha, ha...

Just thought I'd share my findings...

How did you clean them?