Hello people, anyone with newman cam/solid lifters fitted to RST? Have you had or know of lifters failing?

 

We use newman cams in all our CVH engines, and have never had anything you would call a failure. HOwever we do get what I can only call "crazy paving" on the top face of the follower, where the rocker has been in contact with the adjusting screw in the follower. This however has not caused any issues, but it does seem to be a relatively common occurance.

 

Well you have heard of one now!!! lifter on number 3 exhaust valve has disintergrated. Ramains are seized in the bore and I suspect it has damaged the cam. Next issue is the metal fragments now floating around the engine

 

What kind of failure has happened. i.e. describe it in detail

 

drove the car maybe 10 miles. Warmed it up as usual so it hadnt even been on boost. Stopped for fuel (V power of course) and when I wen to start the car it wouldnt start which was odd. Had to give give it a bit of throttle and crank it a while the second time then it started. Idled but didnt sound normal. Drove out of the garage and immediately could tell it had no power and was back firing alot. Pulled over and had it recovered back to my workshop. Did the basic checks then took the rocker cover off. Number 3 exhaust valve wasnt opening. Took the rocker arms off of cylinder 3 and the exhaust follower wouldnt come out of its bore. Unscrewed the top of the lifter and could see straight down onto the cam. The remains of the lifter are stuck in the bore but the base of it is completely gone and there are bits of it floating around the top end.

 

Sounds to me like lack of lubrication. Normally this is a result of low oil pressure, so as soon as you can get the engine running check the oil pressure.

Also check the lubrication holes for the lobes in the head casting are'nt blocked, as this kind of failure is common in CVH heads that have sludge build up in these holes.

If all this checks out fine then the only other cause of this failure is incorrect tappet clearance on that lobe. If the tappet gap was too tight it would result in constant base circle contact and eventually cause follower damage like you describe. Like wise an excessive clearance would batter the follower face, but this is probably unlikely as you would have heard excessive clearance before the failure occured. Remember too tight a clearance causes as much damage as too large a tappett clearance!

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for that Karl, I am gutted as only had car 4 weeks, and driven it 3 times, done 330 miles and 250 of that was bringing the car back form preston at a steady 50mph! Didnt sound particularly tappety, oil was clean and bang on the mark. I also know AJC and DAZ C fitted a brand new oil pump but I will check the pressure.

Kindest Regards

Steve.

 

I had had a lifter fail on my S2, the bolt sheared off of the top of the lifter, AVA then replaced the full set of lifters.

I have a pic of it in Photobucket somewhere

 

Were they newman solid lifters?? Did you have to replace the cam also?? I am looking st other options, everyones opinion seems to be that newman are the best but I am not now convinced??

 

Is this Andy's old rs1600i turbo?

Is so thats unlucky and hope you get it fixed without too much dificulty

 

It sure is Tim, driven it 3 times and this happens. No fault of Andy or Daz, they have done a cracking job on this car, its just bad luck but I am absolutely gutted

 

Real shame. Its the car I always wanted Andy to bring to the cheshire meets when i attended but he'd just got his monte back from reyland at the time so its anyones guess which car he'd rather of played with.

Shorty said its a mental little car

 

sorry bit of a swerve on the topic

do you not rat ethe roller rockers anymore then karl?

 

I forgot about them!

 

they still in the back of my mind


just the bloke who i had lined to make them dont wanna play ball


then i heard ollie had a couple of issues

 

Yes I do rate roller rockers, just not the alloy items that are floating around from donkeys years ago. We went through 3 sets and failed every set due to fatigue of the alloy.

We did consider making some steel roller rockers, but have gone a different route now, so won't be making any more up.

 

so you new option is better


as i did speak to you a while back and you had the tooling to make them

 

Karl,

Your better option at improving the CVH valve train. Is it expensive/worth fitting to an already assembled and running CVH?

 

My brothers RST had a newman cam lifter destroy itself when we investigated the problem we found the cam lobes had been machined out of line with the lifter. newman said they had a bad batch of cams and sent him new cam and lifters foc.

 

Thats interesting. I emailed Newman yesterday but have had no response.

 

Managed to remove the remains of the mangled lifter, Cut a new thread in the top and used a slide hammer



On inspecting the cam it appears that the cam lobe is not central to the lifter? Could this also be a manufacturing fault with the cam? I will try and get some more pictures up.

 

Fuck thats bad!

 

Jesus that aint healthy

 

Told you it wasnt pretty! Glad I managed to get it out without damaging the head. Just got to get the rest of it out thats swimming round the engine.

Want to keep the same set-up but am unsure about fitting another newman now. Any suggestions?

 

thats a bastard that mate hope you get it sorted, cheers rob

 

Tell me bout it, gutted!

 

Quite often the cam isn`t central on the lifter, it helps even out the wear by rotating the lifter, there is usually a slight angle ground on the cam too, like half a degree.

 

It is noticibly so over the other seven though? Just doesnt look right to me.

 

Thats the same as my brothers. ring newman direct mate should get a replacement he did.

 

How long ago did he have the problem with his?

 

Yes they were Newman Lifters

The cam was fine

 

My cam most definitely is not fine. Does any one produce a better solid lifter kit as I get the feeling these are not what they are cracked up to be.

 

bloody hell, glad you found what the cause was, but so sorry its something so major, and not a simple electrical fault

 

Yeah can you believe it did that on start up! Must have been wearing funny for some time and just chose that moment to let go completely so it wouldnt open the valve anymore.

Still, new cam, lifters and a good flush through and should be sweet I hope.

 

any joy with any news yet steve?

 

Not yet Andy, was hoping to have it done for ford fair but havent had time to do a thing with it.

Sapphire looks a good un mate, fancy a px!