Reply to "Does Anyone Have the Wydendorf Lifter Bushing Tools They Would Consider Renting?"

Denny Wydendorf sells two different setups for lifter bushings. The first is piloted on the original hole. The second indexes off the crank mains and needs a mill. I suggest only using the second (more expensive) apparatus if you're blueprinting a block. I once published a table of measurements found for a rare NOS 351-C block that had been setting in a warehouse crate since 1970. A machine shop set it up in a fixture and indicated every single part of the block using a profilometer. EVERYTHING was off either slightly or significantly from blueprint specs. So it depends on how precise you want your lifters to run. If all you're interested in is cutting oil leakage around the lifters from 42 years of wear, the piloted reamer will work fine. You'll need to punch out the stock hole, press in a bushing, then ream that for clearance.

IMHO, I wouldn't worry much about a used reamer cutting bad holes; significant wear will make a reamer harder to use and will cut a smaller than normal hole possibly with a less-than-perfect finish. For a press-fit hole, thats not bad as it can be honed to exact size. Less reamer wear will do nothing measurable. But what it won't do is cut to a truer center than its pilot hole. And you get to do this- correctly- 16 times!