What is a lifter?

[MiracleMax]

Originally posted by Stang67
Lifters are a small round tube that holds the pushrod in place and rides on top of the single cam in center of the engine, lifters were last used in mustangs in 1995.

I guess you could say that the lifter locates the pushrod, but thats not its only job. If you connected the pushrod directly to the cam, it would either have to be a very tough cam or you'd be changing cams an pushrods on a regular basis.

The lifter has a very important job converting the rotary motion of the cam to the recipicating (I beleive thats the right term) motion of the valve train. I can't rember how, but the diameter of the lifter has something to do with the ramp design of the cam. larger diameter lifters can sustain more aggressive ramp action (an advatage I beleive the Ford has over brand X), Back in the old days (like around when moses was mountain climbing) they used a thingy called a mushroom lifter in order to use a more aggressive cam. Then along came the roller lifter and the mushroom lifter has been pretty much relagated to special use.

Ever think that maybe your timing chains or the tensioners might be worn out or bad?