Solid Lifters in a 72 head in a 71 Opel GT?

[luapopel]

im new to this car and was wondering why i have solid lifters in a 72 head? all the books says its suppose to have hydraulic. Is this somebody put these in the past or did the car come with it. if anyone in alabama or around here has any parts id be more the happy to take a look at them im needing a whole interior im trying to get it back as close to stock as possible and like i said this is the first opel that ive seen and im quite impressed with there motor design and i would like to know as many details as i can find just cant find anyone around here that knows anything about them.

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by luapopel im new to this car and was wondering why i have solid lifters in a 72 head? all the books says its suppose to have hydraulic. Is this somebody put these in the past or did the car come with it. if anyone in alabama or around here has any parts id be more the happy to take a look at them im needing a whole interior im trying to get it back as close to stock as possible and like i said this is the first opel that ive seen and im quite impressed with there motor design and i would like to know as many details as i can find just cant find anyone around here that knows anything about them.

Are you sure that it has solid lifters? If in fact it does, someone in the past has changed the head or the camshaft and lifters. All 72 1.9's came with a four bearing heads (cam bearings). The head should have the year cast into the top of the head, it will be 68,69,70,71,72 Etc. and that only requires taking off the valve cover.

[luapopel]

yea cus i thought they were hydralic and so i adjsuted them with o lash and what u know it has no compression so took the cover back off looked again and yea they were solid lifters so i adjusted them and problem over. and the head has 72 stamped on it. and im not exactly sure but im pretty sure the cam on ly had 3 bearings but the head had 4 but it wasnt using the middly bearing. Sounds like someone put in a earlier cam in a late model is that goin to have any effects on the motor?

[Mike Preble]

First, welcome to the greatest Opel site around. We have a very ecletic group of devoted Opelphiles who will be glad to assist you. Also, we have a search engine that will probably lead you to enough reading material to keep you busy for a few weeks. Alot of questions have been answered but if after searching, you still don't find what you want, then please ask.

You can run a 4 bearing cam in a 3 bearing head. All stock 4 bearing cams were hydralic. You can run solid lifters on a hyd. cam. You can get a 4 bearing cam with solid lifters from aftermarket suppliers. Your cam could be a stock profile cam or a performance one. How is the engine running? As someone has already been in the engine is it the origonal block. Search for how to check engine on this site and you will learn how to tell.

Good luck and we would love to see pictures of your car. Post them so we can either drool or give you some helpful advice.

Mike

[luapopel]

i havnt ran it long enough to get it running right but i believe it is a stock cam i didnt see any aftermarket markings on it but i know whoever had it before just went thru the motor since i could still see the cross hatches on the cylinder walls and the pistons were .20 over. Im just taking it one step at a time i got to go thru the wires since a few mice decided to live there for ahwile along with the interior and brakes. Right now shes a little camera shy but ill take a few pics when shes a little more decent

[Anonymous D]

Download, on identifying valve lifter types in Opels, here:

http://www.opelclub.com/TuneUpPart1aJune2006.pdf

[luapopel]

i know they're solid lifters. i was just thinking they were supposed to be hydraulic from the manuals.

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by luapopel ... I'm not exactly sure but im pretty sure the cam only had 3 bearings but the head had 4 but it wasnt using the middly bearing. Sounds like someone put in a earlier cam in a late model is that goin to have any effects on the motor?

It is possible to use an earlier 3-bearing solid lifter cam in a later four bearing head but something has to be done about stopping oil being pumped out through the oiling hole in the un-used bearing in the head. One "fix" is to fit cam bearing into the head half a turn around so the oil hole drilling in the head is covered by the bearing shell.

If you do have a 3-bearing cam in a '72 4-bearing head you will have to check that the "Previous Owner" has fixed this oil leak - or you will end up with drastically lowered oil pressure.

The fact that there are +0.020" pistons in the motor shows that it has been worked on and could very well have had an earlier solid lifter cam fitted - but you need to check that un-used bearing!

[hrcollinsjr]

If you have run the engine it should be obvious if the bearing has been turned to block the oil hole, the pressure will be extremely low if it hasn't. Heck, you could probably crank it over with a remote starter and watch it squirt oil if it is open.

Harold