Strange things are afoot at 289 valve adjustment time!

[smash]

OK, so I have a 289. Somewhere down the ownership line it was claimed to be a hipo but it has stock 289 heads so....working on the basis that it was likely stock bottom end, I adjusted the valves on one cylinder bank as hydraulic and therefore just nipped up the lash.

What a transformation - the car would hardly start let alone run!! The gases coming out of the 'zero lash' side exhaust remained cold suggesting it wasn't firing at all - oops.....

I adjusted the valves back to 'hipo' clearences and it was back to business as usual.

Is there any easy way of determining whether I have hydraulic or solid lifters? If it's a non standard cam, how the hell do i judge the clearances?!!

Interestingly the engine does have a thicker than normal harmonic damper and was also fitted with an autolite dual point dizzy - both of which are easy aftermarket add ons so don't necesarily prove much.

I'm confused!

[sharpe 1]

You can, with the engine shut down, apply pressure the the lifter
thru the push rod and the lifter should collapse if it is hyd.If it is a solid lifter as was used in the Hypo it will not collapse. Also the solid lifter has a lifter noise that you will notice. A clatter sound.