evo lifter grenades... : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

wildbillXIII · 08-09-2008, 01:55 AM

there is about 7,000 mile on this engine. S&S super stock cases, crane 310 high roller, edelbrock performer heads, S&S super e carb , drag pipes and you guessed it, points ignition. bought it from an old schooler who dies by points. bought the bike last fall and occasionally it would cut down on one cylinder like a misfire. it sat for a few seasons so i tuned it up over the winter (plugs wires amsoil all around and new points) and no miss for 2500 miles. i stopped at a redlight and heard some quick grinding and it was running on the rear cylinder. i limped it 1.5 miles to work and trailered it home. turns out the roller on the front intake lifter took out the cam and the lifter is jammed sideways in the tappet block. i checked out the rear tappet block and the intake lifter is missing the leg that holds the roller axle. i am guessing whoever did the mods didn't upgrade the lifters and pushrods as three of the pushrods were also bent slightly. anyway getting to the point, i am collecting the liifter pieces on the garage floor and im missing a few. is there any way to flush the oiling system w/o splitting the cases? i hop its not what i'm thinking... thanks for helping out a newb!
wildbill

bigtone · 08-09-2008, 07:09 AM

I had a lifter roller let go in my S&S 96 incher a few years ago. I took the jugs off an flushed the cases the best I could with kerosene, thru the drain plug at the bottom of the engine case. I flushed the breather cavity and cam compartment. I disassembled the oil pump and flushed and inspected it. Then I flushed the oil tank and lines. It can really be a mess when a lifter goes. I really dont think you will find any lifter much better then the harley lifters, as long as you have the big axle type, although thats what I had that let go. I plan on replacing them every 20-30k miles in that engine from now on.

wildbillXIII · 08-11-2008, 10:43 PM

i found a few pieces of the lifter body for the front and rear intake valve and only ONE needle bearing that was in the bottom of the oil pump though theres two bad lifters. the oil pump looks fine, as does everything else in the gearcase (except for the cam). with my luck all the bearing must have got sucked into the only unaccessable spot... the crankcase. oh well.

thanks for the input bigtone

Len · 08-12-2008, 03:27 AM

Check in your breather gear, i'll bet some stuff is in there. I had 2 circlips off of the wrist pins come loose and they were both in the breather.

wildbillXIII · 08-12-2008, 04:59 AM

breather gear was clean as a whistle. once i got the circlip off the oil pump drive gear i noticed a big lump of roller bearings in the bottom cavity which caused my next thread...

it did get me thinking about looking into the S&S reed valve instead of the breather valve though...

thanks len.

Grinder · 08-12-2008, 07:16 AM

I've lost a lifter also...I feel your pain.