WTH?!?! Thought I was beyond needing help

[65fastback2+2]

OK, so im trying to do a simple lifter swap. D.Hearne sent me lifters (thx). I pull it all apart....roller 5.0 carb'd. Pull the lifters out and, ta-da...the first and last lifter on each side wont come out without pulling the heads (not doing that on my short vacation)...so, I decide no big deal, i'll switch the lifters I can get to and hope it fixes my ticking problem on the right side...so I pull the lifters out that I can, and go to pop the new ones in and, nope, they wont go in. The lifters look IDENTICAL! The new ones will get the roller tip in then nothing...I tried oiling them tons to slip em in, still nothing....so i dunno what the problem is here? I tried one of the old ones to see if maybe I was just putting them in at a weird angle of something, but nope, they just drop right in....so....whats the deal? any ideas?

 

[Shakin66]

Assuming that the lifters are correct for your application... I have in the past used a Brake Cylinder hone to freshen up the lifter bores.

 

[tos]

Do you have a micrometer or at least a set of calipers to measure the diameter of the lifters and compare old to new? Thats where I would begin.

 

[mustangman1974]

It might be buildup within the bores. Look closesly inside to see if there is. Also look at both lifters, I know on my 89 5.0 the lifters had a top and bottom. Meaning the roller was indexed try turning them 180 degrees. (with roller still facing block)

 

[SoCalCruising]

I believe that the oil hole in the lifter body must face the oil gallery, else there will be ticking at start-up and lasting until the lifter pressurizes, which it will, eventually. So, it isn't a good idea to put them in any old way - not that you were.

Darn that D.Hearne. A good practical joke, though, huh? Prolly gave you lifters out of some full-roller MF (that's Massy-Furgeson, not initials of the expletive) tractor he built for fun.

 

[67-in-pieces]

Darn that D.Hearne. A good practical joke, though, huh? Prolly gave you lifters out of some full-roller Massy-Furgeson.

 

[TOM B]

Ok OK that good 65 fastback, real good, take it slow now, The first step is admitting you have a problem.

 

[65fastback2+2]

so my dad goes out there 2 days later, gives the lifters a rock (left-right) then they just drop in....only thing i can figure, is about an hour before i was trying to put the lifters in, i ran the car for about 10 minutes...maybe there was enough expansion to cause em not to fit? i dunno...anyhow, i didnt get enough time to tune it, or see if it fixed my problem before i had to leave...better luck next time.