Lifter collapsing tool

Does anyone know where I can get the lifter collapsing tool for the Mercruiser 470? I tried to use the company in the Mercruiser manual, Owatonna Tools Inc. but the phone number listed apparently is not good. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

Don't know what a lifter collapsing tool is? Is it something you pump-up prime hydraulic lifters?

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

Try Napa or a auto discount store. The tool is for ford engines (70's mid 80's )351W,400M,460's that had solid lifters. If you didnt mix em up when you pulled em you should be ok. (clearance is .110-.210)

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

Faztbullet said:

Try Napa or a auto discount store. The tool is for ford engines (70's mid 80's )351W,400M,460's that had solid lifters. If you didnt mix em up when you pulled em you should be ok. (clearance is .110-.210)

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There are Ford engines that actually did come factory equiped with solid lifters and it wouldn't run right with a valve clearance of .110-.120, solid liftered Ford's run @.022 In .024 Ex. may vary slightly with aftermarket cams.

Anyhow, you don't need any special tool to set up either a ford hydraulic liftered motor, or a solid liftered one.

351W 400M 460's were never factory equiped with solid lifters.

I'm not familiar with a merc. 470

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

I'm not familiar with a merc. 470

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Which is exactly why I don't reply to OMC stringer drive questons. I'm not familiar enough with them to give an answer worth reading.

The 470 does have hydraulic lifters, aluminum Mercruiser designed 4 cylinder block, and a Ford 460 head and rocker arm setup.
Here is a picture from Service manual #8

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

thye collapsing tool can be made.
it simply hooks under the valve side of the rocket and over the pushrod side and allows you to apply pressure on the lifter plunger.
you will need to apply steady pressure for several minutes to bleed the oil out of the lifter.
sometimes I have had to remove and dissasemble and clean the lifter to allow it to collapse.
the 3.7L mercruisers take a funny method to CORRECTLY set the lash AKA lifter plunger preload.
technically the rocker cannot be adjusted so there are like 4 different pushrod lengths to correctly set lifter plunger preload or valve lash.
most techs never saw that part of the manual but quite a few hydraulic lifter engines of the late 60's and early 70's used this setup.
its also why I wont touch a 3.7L 470 merc motor anymore.
no tooling,parts or factory support is avalible now.
that and they are a total pain in the rear to do valve jobs on.
especially if the machine shop did not carefully record installed valve stem height and grind the stems back to the recorded hieght after cutting the seats and facing the valve.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

Ah, uses an aluminum block in conjunction with iron heads .210 valve clearance with lifter bottomed out (tool).
The aluminum block expansion effects valve clearance big time hot vs cold.


So that's the 470 frankenstein motor I hear about, thanks for that info, now at least I'll know to stay away from that one.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

I just took the block to the machine shop this morning. I spoke to the machinist who has had a lot of expierence with these motors and asked him about this. The setup I will be using is roller rockers mounted to STUDS instead of using the pedastal mount. According to him I can then adjust the valves in a more conventional method, tighten until you feel drag while rotating then add 3/4 of a turn , then lock it down. About the only thing he said to check wess the rocker to valve geometry, make sure the roller tip is centered on the valve tip. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks for all your help.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

yep, your machinist aint got it all upstairs

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

actually he is on the right track.
what your looking for is to position the lifter plunger about the center of its travel

easy do do if you record the lifter plunger travel before installing them then use a dial indicator and set each one to its center of travel.
on the 3.7 motors I have never seen published data of actual lifter plunger settings.

but make them all the same and all will work the same.

extra money on adjustables is nuts in my opinion.

other issue is installed valve STEM heights.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

I thought I saw somewhere on this site that it was between .05" to .08". That doesn't sound like it would put the plunger mid point to me. The adjustable nuts and studs I picked up for $100.00 along with the roller rockers and that was for a set to do a 460 Ford V-8, so I don't think it was too crazy!! Thanks for your help.

Re: Lifter collapsing tool

I don't see any problem with what your doing, though I know nothing about a 470 motor, but I do know 460 heads.
What you want to look at is the where the rocker contacts the valve tip, do your preliminary adjustment and while turning the crankshaft watch where the rocker scrubs the tip of the valve through one full open and close cycle, the rocker should rub or roll in your case along the center of the valve tip and not come close to dropping off the edge.