Replacing Valve lifters

Can you pull the valve lifters out through the push-rod holes or do you have to remove the cylinder head?

400CiD

Can you pull the valve lifters out through the push-rod holes or do you have to remove the cylinder head?

400CiD

Huh? You should never have to remove cylinder heads to pull valve lifters. Once the pushrod is removed, just pull the lifter straight up. This does, of course, mandate removal of the intake manifold.

If there's any sludge/varnish buildup on the lifter, it might be very difficult to pull it out. If the lifter end is mushroomed to any degree (think extreme cam lobe failure), you can forget pulling it out through the lifter valley.

You should NEVER replace flat tappet lifters without replacing the cam, and vice versa. Also a word of warning - avoid any 'autozone' type lifters, unless they're Sealed Power, AC/Delco or COMP - as they tend to fail quickly (Chinese crap with the wrong metallurgical makeup). Also, do not remove the lifters with the intent of putting them back, unless you mark them so they are returned to the same bore that each was removed from. Failure to follow the above advice WILL result in rapid cam/lifter failure.