84 Vk Berlina With red 308

[DannyVK88]

I changed my lifters last week and some water got into the engine whilst removing the intake manifold so i drained all the oil chucked a new filter on and new oil. but when i took there rocker covers off today the oil was like white cream. is this a result of left over water in the sump? what should i do about this?
And now i also have a bad tapping noise over cylinder 1.

Im going to refurbish this car but not sure where to start i dont want to make the mistake of ripping it all down and then never getting around to putting it back together.

Should i start with the Interior, Exterior or engine bay first.

Also does anyone know the laws in qld about moving items from the engine bay to the boot or behind the firewall?

Cheers Daniel.

[ari666]

do a compresion test and find out where the water is coming from, cos a little water in your oil should evaporate pretty quickly when the oil gets hot and dissappear out your breather/pcv. but if it is getting fresh water from your cooling system then the creamy stuff will result and just get worse and worse.

the most commonly diagnosed fault is a dead head gasket allowing water from a jacket into the oil gallerys, BUT that would be the worst case scenario. the timing cover is also often at fault, as are few other problems.

start with a comp test to see if your down a cylinder or two. this will give a a rough idea of head gasket condition and also whether you have a crack somewhere you shouldnt (head/bore). its a simple test to do and much easier than guessing your way through a rebuild.

so the question stands; why change your lifters? i think the reason that made you decide to do that will be a good guide to whatever is truely at fault. the tapping noise could be as simple as a dodgie tappet or not torqued to spec. but could be a few other things, lifter chewed out (yes, new lifters can chew out IMMEDIATLY if not installed properley), bent pushrod, conrod bearing or worse.

always go with the easiest diagnosis first which would be to whip off your rocker covers and re-check the torque of the tappets. even go as far as take them off and visually inspect the pushrod/valve seat and the tops of the valves if they are damaged they will make a loud tapping which changes with the revs of the engine.

and on the mod question, i always start with the engine bay first

[DannyVK88]

It didnt seem to be creamy at all before hand and i have only ran it for maybe 5 minutes after changing the lifters not long enough to heat up so hopefully it will all evaporate. Rocker arms are torqued to 39nm, i just had a look and it has blown out the front and rear cork gasket on the intake manifold i didnt use the torque wrench for it probably should have but couldnt find torque specs for the 2 stages, Manifold bolts also look a bit dodgy might need to get new ones.

Cheers for the help mate, how do i do a compression test?

[v8commy]

remove spark plug from 1 cylinder at a time then put a pressure compressions tester in that hole cranking the car over (not starting) then write down the reading and on to the next cylinder after refitting the spark plug of course hope this can help you

[ari666]

yep, what he just said.

that intake gasket is a pain in the rectum. next time you install, smear the f... out of it with RTV high temp silicon. let is sit for no more than 10 minutes then put the intake on and tighten a little bit tighter than hand tight, wait about 5 mins then tighten properley.

torque specs on inlet bolts; 34-40NM and order is this

14-09-06-01-04-07-11
13-10-05-02-03-08-12

sorry if it doesnt make sense, but tighten the numbers in order i.e. the middle ones first then the ones to the right of the middle then the left of the middle etc etc etc

and yeah, rockers are 30-39NM so that should be all good.

good luck bro

[DannyVK88]

Cheers guys,

I think i found out what the tapping noise was i pulled out cylinder 1 lifters and the right one the bottom of it was chewed away so im guessing i tightened it at the lower part of the cam lobe so im hoping it hasn't chewed out some of the cam aswell.

Is there a sequence and correct way to tighten all the rocker arms? should it be at TDC? or somewhere else?

Cheers Dan

[Tree cutter]

Worn cam lobes was a pretty common problem on the old red V8 motors so it is probably your cam that has ruined the new lifter. Stick the old lifter and pushrod back in and wind the motor over to see how much lift it has , then compare it to another cylinder. Some of the old cams have been known to have lobes that have worn to an almost round shape so they have very little lift. They normally only wear one or two lobes as well for some reason.

[ari666]

tightening should be done when the lobe is at full closed. so the best way to do it is turn the engine till the opposite valve is at full lift the torque it up. but because normal tappets are not adjustable it doent make that much of a difference.

if your lifter is naffed then your cam will most likely be naffed too. time for an upgrade methinks.

p.s. if you do go new cam, make sure you read up on how to break it in. starting up on a new cam and the first 20 mins will be make of break for the old holdens.