Got my HKS cams in. Bled lifters and then filled with diesel.
Ended up doing timing belt, even though I only have 10K orig miles.

So I have to rotate assembly several times to make sure timing
belt lines up OK. Alright to do that with completely filled lifters,
even if it is diesel?

 

yes...
what choice do you have?
making sure timing is correct is mega important.

just turn it slow... it will be fine

 

Well, after lifters are bled and you dunk them in diesel.
It takes several tries (about 3-4 times pushing internally)
until air stops coming out. One thought I had was re-bleed
completely and only fill them half as much.

Would be a PIA since cams are in, but not that bad, as timing belt in
not on yet.

 

That is what it says to do in the service manual but it makes me nervous especially since the service manual only concerns stock parts. Just me but I wouldn't even do it on a stock cam.

 

I've always installed lifter bled down. They pump with in about 5 seconds of the oil light going off on initial start up.

 

I never understood the filling them with diesel. I get that its good for cleaning and have very good lubrication properties but seems like it would contaminate the oil after initial startup and require an oil change.

Personally when I've swapped cams, Ive just bled them down and upon first start lets the revs build up at like 3k and they quiet down after like 10 seconds.

 

You should change the oil after about 10-15 minutes of run time after cams anyways...because you should have used assembly lube on the cams...

 

Lol of course I used the super tacky assembly lube, lol! Certainly weren't coated in just motor oil bc who would even do such a thing!? Newbs...newbs I tell ya!

 

after I cleanse them with diesel I dunk them in motor oil and bleed them again...

for what it is worth, GSC reccomends installing the cams with lifters blead down.. i.e. not pumped up like the manual says...

I actually did it this way when installing gsc s2 cams and I never ever had ticking problem..

we did spin the oil pump to get full oil presure with a drill before we put the cambelt on though..

 

same here...
usually bleed down and throw them in there.

ive had no issues.

OP... just make sure its in time and fire it up!!

 

i think the old school rule with lifters is if they are dry, and you start the motor, they will seize up cause they dont get the oil fast enough.

diesel is easy to get into the lifter manually, and it will lube them untill the oil gets there.

 

They will clack on start up for a minute or so. Might even have some misfires. But they will bleed them selves.

 

So I pulled both sets of cams and lifters back out.
They seemed hydro-locked, just like they were
with oil when I first pulled them out.

So maybe the diesel compresses a bit more than oil,
but I wasn't taking that chance. I compressed
internal valve just one time with lifter upside down,
and then I could compress lifter by hand easy.

Just for kicks, I totally emptied one lifter again, and it
takes 4-5 internal valve compressions. So you can
still have lifter pretty full to start, with only one
compression (after complete fill) and have them compress.
Best of both worlds I'd guess...........

For kicks I took picks up fully extended and how
far they compress after just one release of internal valve

 

I installed my GSC's bled down as well (as recommended).