Did a cam swap, bled the lifters and was wondering how long it should take for the lifters to get quiet again and what should I do to pump them back up?

 

Mine took about 10-15 mins..and a couple of steady revs around 3k...It should do the trick

 

Usally 1-5 mins will do it but most of the time I can get them to pump up in the first min by holding the throttle @2000 rpm.

 

if done correctly, one shouldn't have to wait. The lifters should be bled while completely submerged in oil and primed in a new batch of oil and left in the new oil before reinstalling. It's a good idea to make sure the oil system is completely primed before starting, and you can do this by turning the crankshaft by hand a few turns (with a socket and ratchet) after having checked your torques, timing belt alignment, etc. If done correctly, one shouldn't hear lifter tap and there is no need to use throttle.

 

The Mitsu Workshop Manual I have says to bleed and clean them in diesel. It also says to then fill them with diesel! My buddy told me it was a typo, but I dunno because that workshop manual has never let me down before.

 

I've always bleed them in the air, reinstalled, and held the engine at 3k RPM's for 15-20 minutes per most cam break-in guidelines. Never had an issue and they always quiet down quickly.

 

The presence of lifter tap indicates air/poor lubrication inside the lifters. Letting it idle until it goes away is one thing, but to sit there with revs for as long as you indicate until the tapping goes away just leads to material failure over time. Can one tell just by looking? No, but we all know what running around with poor lubrication leads to, and the lifters and each part of the oiling system should be treated with proper care for material longevity. That's just my philosophy from having worked on 4G63s and other high revving performance engines.

Cleaning in diesel is ok if you are not changing oil frequently, and I don't doubt the engineers at Mitsu, but remember that the manuals are written with the sloppy owner in mind. The person who skips oil changes and tune ups and just neglects their vehicle is who it is written for. I don't think that includes the majority of us here. If you are running hard all the time, and that probably does include most of us, that oil change interval should be done well before MS interval in order to prevent "coking" and varnish build-up.

Back to the issue at hand, we all have different methods. I am more comfortable doing the lifters my way, and i don't get the tapping after cleaning/purging with oil and priming with clean oil, whether it is for a 4G63 or an SR20DET, which has a similar design. After reinstalling the lifters and everything else, checking for proper torques and proper placement, I pump oil onto the cams and valvetrain assembly and turn the whole assembly by hand via crankshaft to check for binding, etc and pump a little more oil on the rotating valvetrain before re-installing the valve cover. Start up and no tapping.

 

This part of what you say makes no sense. If you think that does anything to move oil through the engine you are grossly mistaken. The oil pump will not move any significant amount of oil when cranked by hand. If you want to get oil circulated through the engine you need to use a pressurized pre-oiler or turn the oil pump with a drill prior to installing the timing belt.

 

You still have oil in various parts of the oil system when doing a cam change, and no, it doesn't take a whole lot of pressure to get the oil to move if the system is already partially primed, which it is from the time you shut the car down. What you say is what I would recommend for an engine that has zero kilometers, meaning that it has been rebuilt and nothing has been pressurized yet. You can get the same results by pulling the fuse for the fuel pump and start via starter to get the engine to turn over for those who do not have a pre-oiler system. Using an impact gun, which you are referring to, I am assuming, won't turn it any faster than by hand. If it does, then one has bigger issues, like poor compression.

 

Not an impact gun... a drill to spin the oil pump sprocket.

And the starter motor I think still won't spin fast enough to create good pressure. And IMO, if you are gonna spin the motor via starter motor (with no spark/fuel), you may as well just start up for real and you will get better oil pressure.

 

if the starter motor won't spin fast enough, then it will never crank, right? In the event of spinning without fuel/spark, there is a place for it. You do it to make sure everything is moving correctly and not binding up. This is the point you missed regarding spinning the engine before buttoning everything back up and starting it for real. Pressurizing the system is a by-product of spinning the engine and I don't think you want the engine to start with the valve cover off, even if you could with the plug wires and capacitors off.

Anyway, what do engineers know.

 

The starter does not spin fast enough to build oil pressure. Also, you'd do just as well using a straw to blow oil through the motor as you would spinning it by hand. Spinning by hand is to check for interference or other issues and has nothing to do with oiling the engine.

 

Exactly. Nobody is disputing you shouldn't spin the motor by hand to check for binding, make sure the rockers are set properly, etc... but in regards to oil pressure, swinging the starter motor or spinning the motor by hand will not build much pressure. If your gonna spin the motor, best bet IMO is spin it knowing you have full/proper oil pressure which is to have the engine running.

Starter motor spins at around 200 rpm if I recall. Idling at 1000 rpm and your likely running at least 5 times the oil pressure.

 

you are supposed to bleed the oil OUT of them and reinstall them without oil in them....

 

here

dtuned, what kind of engineer are you anyways?