<VV> lifter latest...

[mark at noakes.com]

After all the counsel both ways between VV and fastvairs and noting 
that old school and shop manual insisted that lifters should be primed 
but that the lifter fabricator (besides Clarks) said that it was not 
necessary, I ended up starting the lifter unprimed...one particular 
trustworthy fastvair builder suggested it...and also because it turns 
out that I didn't really have a good way to prime it anyway.

I did find some moly assembly lube at a local speed shop...been 
looking for an excuse to go visit their new building anyway.  My 
biggest concern wasn't the priming issue; it was the new lifter on the 
old cam and potential wear damage issues.  Lotus restorers have been 
reporting weird and fast cam lobe wear when putting new flat tappet 
lifters on old cams when following factory installation procedures that 
have been good forever, and no one seems to be completely sure what it 
going on yet so I was a little spooked...something appears to have 
changed in lubrication.

I did put a generous amount of moly on the foot of the lifter and a 
film of it on the lifter body before install. I also pulled the coil 
wire and did a handful of short 20 second cranks but didn't pull the 
distributor or anything to pump oil up into the engine...after all, 
this wasn't an engine rebuild...it was just a lifter replacement. After 
starting which was pretty easy, per the fastvair builder comments, the 
unprimed lifter settled down in about 10 minutes of idling...it did 
take longer than I was thinking it would though. 

Since I went ahead and adjusted all the valves while I was at it, it 
appears that I will now need to readjust the timing...idle was quite a 
bit faster than before with no other changes.

By the way, the original lifter appear rather mangled internally; I 
have no idea what happened to it, but it was the problem...if anyone 
rememebers me stirring this up a while back.

Lessons Learned

1--An anon engr saying that is a favorite comes to mind..."In theory, 
there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, 
there is usually a difference." Whatever the lifter theory says should 
be done, starting them (or at least one) unprimed worked just fine 
though it was a bit noisy for a few minutes...no big deal.  Apparently 
some major builders have been doing this for years.  

2--One five year old helping makes everything take twice as long.  Two 
five year olds helping makes everything take ten times as long.

3--The rear deck of a vintage Lotus Europa adequately protected by a 
cardboard tray makes a nice work table for light weight Corvair parts 
during minor rebuilds.

Thanks for the assistance,

Mark Noakes