Tools needed: Socket set and ratchet (mainly 10 and 12mm bolts) Phillips head screwdriver Torque wrench Getting new lifters I actually got a set of secondhand lifters for one of my VL's.. I found a motor that was quite clean inside and grabbed the whole set for $50 and never had a problem. However if you want to get them new, you may be in for a shock. Genuine they are $50-$80 EACH (there are 12 remember) depending on if you go to Holden or Nissan and if you can get trade or not Aftermarket they can be cheaper, I've heard of some people getting a whole set of 12 for $200-$300. One thing to keep in mind however - a friend of mine built up a mild turbo motor with a cam and all new lifters. After a few months of driving they started ticking. Upon pulling it apart to investigate, the cam was chewed up! He had the lifters and cam looked at by a cam specialist and he was told the aftermarket lifters are a bit dodgy at times and this is the reason for his problem. He ended up putting in a set of cleaned factory ones without an issue. Also, I've heard you can get the lifters genuine quite cheap from the US as they are the same as the single cam VG30 motor. I'll have to wait until they get here to confirm it but I believe a set of genuine ones from the US will set you back about the same as an aftermarket set here in Australia. Take it apart Remove the air duct, or on a turbo, the crossover pipe - there will be a few clamps over the rubber hoses and a bolt on the throttle cable bracket. Be careful not to break any of the hoses that connect to it - such as the PCV one and on turbos, the carbon canister line accross the top. Remove the PCV hose. Disconnect the throttle cable from the butterfly... pull it so there is more slack between the plate and the butterfly, and then you can push the end piece out. Remove the cruise control cable if you have it. Then unbolt (2x12mm bolts) the throttle cable support from the head on the exhaust side. Unplug the leads from the plugs and put them out of the way. Now is a good time to remove the top half of the Timing belt cover. You should be able to do it with a ratchet and 8mm socket, without removing the fan or any belts. You will need to be able to see the cam gear when you torque the rocker shaft bolts. You should see something like this: Remove the rocker cover. Make sure you don�t ruin the gasket as it can be re-used. By now your motor will look similar to this: The lifter guides and rocker arms can come off in two pieces - one for the front half of the motor, and one for the rear. Carefully lift out the rocker shafts and arms. Here is a pic of the front rockers removed: Then you can lift out the lifter cradles (one per side). There will be four locating dowells to help line it all up. these may be stuck in the head, in the cradles, or be just be loose. try not to lose them! here is a pic lifters and cradles removed: here are the bits you'll have out(note the locating dowells circled in red): If you know what lifters you need to replace, you only need to undo the half that contains those lifters. My dud lifters were chipped and you could clearly see them. Now is a time to put the new lifters in the guides. If you know which lifters to replace, you can replace only them. Be sure to give them a good coating in oil first though, on all surfaces. The bad lifters I had were all chipped on top, except for one. It seems they are only chipped when it gets to the point that they are always ticking at idle (even when warm). I just replaced the chipped ones and now I still have one bad one - ticks two or three times on a cold morning. Putting it back together... Place the new lifters into the cradle, put the cradle back in the engine. Be sure to put a little oil on the cam lobes if you wiped it off with your hands before. Put the rocker shafts back in, and do the bolt up to hand tightness (and no more! believe me, these bolts can snap, you don�t want to go through that). The cradles are different and have markings on them to show which is which, see pics: Now for the tricky part. To ensure that all the bolts are torqued correctly, you will have to rotate the engine by hand. Turn the engine by hand until the notch the camshaft gear is uppermost (a ratchet on the crank bolt is the best bet - I can just fit my Sidchrome one in with the fan still on). Here is a pic of what you're looking for (note this is a modified cam gear, ignore the fact that its yellow): Tighten cylinders 4, 5 and 6 (the rear three) to 18-22nm with a torque wrench. Rotate the engine through one revolution until the notch on the gear is facing downwards. Tighten the bolts for cylinders 1, 2 and 3 to 18-22nm. Now put your rocker cover back on, the air duct, throttle cable, etc. Run the engine for a few minutes until the ticking stops. If you want to go by the book, you are supposed to 'run in' the lifters at 3000rpm for 10 minutes or so. *update* after a couple of years.. pics are here. Thanks to the guy who sent them to me about a year ago. Sorry I can't remember who it is! I've also removed all replys with questions that have been answered in this update, to try to make the thread easier to follow... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

i hav gotten quotes all for 420 for the set in 12, it's normally only a couple of lifters that are bad, to find out whats bad u gotta take ur rocker cover off, the bad lifters will be sitting higher than usual most likely, can sum1 host a pic of a lifter out of the housing? there is a small metal bit in the middle at the top, if it isnt sticking out of the lifter as much as the rest the lifter is gone, gregorys says if it can be depressed by hand over 1mm it's gone but it's very obvious if it isnt sticking out as much without taking the lifter out. no for a question, my lifter guide retaining bolts are hugely over torqued and 3 of them wont budge, i have slightly stripped the corners off the head of the bolts so im in a little bit of trouble, n e 1 had this happen b4? (i was gently with the wrench and i know how 2 use it properly)

try using a single hex socket instead , it will grip the head of the bolt better and have less chance of slipping

I just pulled 6 lifters apart out of the 12 spare I have. Of the 12 there were 4 I could easily compress with a finger, so I sat them aside and picked 6 of the others. All are used and appear to be in good shape, no chips, signs of wear, couldn't budge them by hand. They are now stripped ready for soaking in fuel to clean them up before reassembly, oil priming and fitment. I'll get some snaps of one apart for interest sake. From what I've been told by the local spares guy who used to be a mechanic and worked on heaps of VL's, it's generally last 2 lifters that go, but while I have that section apart I'll try the 6 of them. Hopefully it'll work, there's at least one that ticks pretty much always, so I should be able to spot it no worries. Edit: Here's a pic for anyone wondering what they look like apart.

Quote: Originally Posted by JuZi i hav gotten quotes all for 420 for the set in 12, it's normally only a couple of lifters that are bad, to find out whats bad u gotta take ur rocker cover off, the bad lifters will be sitting higher than usual most likely, can sum1 host a pic of a lifter out of the housing? there is a small metal bit in the middle at the top, if it isnt sticking out of the lifter as much as the rest the lifter is gone, gregorys says if it can be depressed by hand over 1mm it's gone but it's very obvious if it isnt sticking out as much without taking the lifter out. no for a question, my lifter guide retaining bolts are hugely over torqued and 3 of them wont budge, i have slightly stripped the corners off the head of the bolts so im in a little bit of trouble, n e 1 had this happen b4? (i was gently with the wrench and i know how 2 use it properly) Hi Thea!! trying to find out which lifters are F****D without taking them out don't know what ya mean by the small metal bit up the top!! been looking & looking but I can't seem to find it

Im going to buy a cam for my motor.. I am told it is advisable to replace your lifters as well... Is this true? Can i stilll use the oringal Lifters or will the cam 'hurt' anything?

is this as simple as it looks? or is it a bit harder? once you got it all apart... do the lifters simply come out?

yeah it's a pretty straight forward job, a bit fiddly at times. I did mine for the first time a while back and it took me from memory an hour and a half.

i was talking to a mechanic today, he said you have to bleed the NEW lifters first before u put them in or else you will end up with worse ticking then before... true?

Your VL ticking as well Brendon?

Yeah, its starting to get really annoying, especially when your cruisin at a low speed, everyone can hear it! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Im going to buy a cam for my motor.. I am told it is advisable to replace your lifters as well... Is this true? Can i stilll use the oringal Lifters or will the cam 'hurt' anything? ...

depends on the cam..??

ok... i have just done this to my VL... Thank you VERY much Nath, i wouldnt of attempted this without your help! I have surely made some sort of impact on the lifters... They dont tick at warm idle no more, but they tick when i rev it in neutral I havnt driven it yet, so i guess we will tell when i drive it Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Its probably your injectors man.. they are fairly louds sometimes.. Thanks Proph Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

I just went and started it again... No ticking... Revved it a bit... NO TICKING ??? LOL Im letting it warm down a bit and im gonna try again! Wish me luck! LOL Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Your lifters only tick once your car is cold right.. thats when mine tick and once it is warm its fine.. no problems..

Well i started it again thismorning, the engine was cold, the lifters had had a bit of a run to wear them in... and there was no ticking at all SO this job has worked! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by 1ShyVL Well i started it again thismorning, the engine was cold, the lifters had had a bit of a run to wear them in... and there was no ticking at all SO this job has worked! just so everyone knows. 1shyvl soaked his lifters in deisel for a couple of days. i've heard this can work quite well and suggested he try it before buying new ones. obviously it did break down the sludge in them! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Yep, soaked them in diesel for 3 nights, although not much oil/sludge came out of the lifters during that time, i thought it wasnt going to work. When i started it up the first time, it was still ticking. but after a while, all the ticking stopped, so i pressume the diesel broke down the sludge in them, and then the engine got rid of the excess... sounds like a charm now, no ticking at all from the lifters. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.