solid lifters

[geraldchainsaw]

ok,   I've had my 57 for 10 r morre years,  have always used 20-50 oil,   lately I've noticed the lifters making lots of  noise  at start  up,   an quiets down after awhile,  like maybe the oil isn't quite sent to the lifters yet,  an I was thuinking of   changing to 10-20,  a lighter  oil, any thoughts?,  or maybe I'm heading for some motor repair, 

[Marc]

Have you checked the valve lash? Should be .019" hot if it has the stock cam.

[geraldchainsaw]

it has a 3/4 cam,  an solid lifters make noise any way,  I also just installed aluminum valve covers which could be the  reason for more noise,  I'm going  to change the oil weight any way just to see what happens if any thing,   thankls for the info,  every thing helps

[59meteor]

If it is a Y block V8, or 223 6 cylinder, they have solid lifters, and oil viscosity should have no bearing on lifter noise. Curious why you are using such a heavy oil? On my warmed over 428 CJ in my59 2 door, with a solid flat tappet cam, I am using 10-30 Brad Penn high ZDDP oil, and even on my drag race cars, using various 427 and 428 FE engines, and SB based stroker race engines, all with solid flat tappet cams, I also normally use 10-30 Brad Penn oil. Unless you are trying to nurse some extra miles from a worn out old engine, with worm bearings, 20-50 seems awfully heavy. Concerning the valve train noise, first thing that I would check is the valve lash. I have always found little to zero change in valve lash, on an engine with iron block and heads, with steel pushrods and cast iron rocker arms. To be honest, I would think that the much thicker aluminum valve covers should tend to reduce valve train noise , not amplify it.

[geraldchainsaw]

good question,   I don't  know why I used a heavy oil either,  when I bought it I thought maybe it was a old restoration  an a loose eng,  who knows,  any way,  I'm  changing oil anyway.         thanks to all for info,  I've been into old cars for 35 yrs,  an  still don't know very much,  thats  why most of my  questions might seem  stupied,  don't ask   you don't learn

[Marc]

Keep asking those questions! I've been into these old Fords about as long as you, and I'm always finding out I don't know as much as I thought I did.

[geraldchainsaw]

OK,  CHANGED OIL,  used O'Reillys full syn 20 weight,  seems quieter but did gain some oil presssure,  10lbs,  that make any sence?

[Marc]

The heavier oil should give a higher pressure reading, though if it's been in there a while and is "well used", that could account for the difference.
If you're interested, here's a link to an article by Ted Eaton where he does some comparisons of heavy vs lighter oil and their effects on power:
oil article

[Tom S]

OK,  CHANGED OIL,  used O'Reillys full syn 20 weight ...

Full synthetic is always your best bet. Don't know why you decided to use 20 weight but I'm pretty sure that you should be using 5-30 or 10-30 oil. You didn't do your engine any favors by using 50 weight oil, that's really bad for cold starts. A 'cold start' doesn't mean a start-up in the winter. It's a start-up any time that an engine is started when it's not already warmed up from being run for a while.
I've read up on a lot of oil & oil filter testing & have been using Mobil 1 full synthetic 5-30 in most things. Tests showed that Mobil 1 & Redline full synthetics are two of the best.