Lifter Question (AMC 304 v8)

Question, and I don't know the answer, can I change out lifters on Ashley's 304 while the intake is off and not affect anything?

Also, what brand would you buy or just get a stock set from NAPA?

I don't see why it would hurt, they are hydraulic.

Thanks for the help,
Jim

Cam and lifters are broken in as a set. Dropping new lifters on a used cam is a 50/50 proposition. If the cam lobes are in good shape, the new lifters will seat in just fine. If the cam lobes are worn, it will eat the new lifters and you'll end up replacing cam and lifters the second time. I wouldn't do it just as a maintenance thing because the manifold is off. If they're not making noise, leave them alone. If a lifter is making noise, pull it and hold a straight edge to the bottom. If it's badly concave, the lifter is shot and the cam lobe is probably worn out too.

Bob
tufcj

Thank you Bob-I had others say different so I wanted to ask here.

Thanks again,
Jim

I agree with Bob, always try to replace mated parts as a set, unless the lifter has collapsed and isn't worn, then you can often get away with replacing it. Same goes with timing sets. If you do need to replace the whole set, its not too much more work once the intake is off, biggest pain after the intake is the balancer which isn't usually too bad.

Thank you,