Wow. Thanks for the update. I'm guessing those oiling holes from the head to the rockers got blocked. Without oil, some of the rockers seized and hammered the lifters. That means you are looking at a new cam (checked that the bearings haven't walked) new lifters, push rods, rocker arm assys, and head rebuild. Actually, make sure the heads are not cracked. Sorry man, not a simple head gasket job. May as well do timing set and oil pump/cover too. And maybe check crank/rod bearings....and....

 

No worries, I knew it would be a bit more
work.

The rocker bar seems fine, and the rockers still move, though after a good cleaning they should be a lot smoother. I don’t think the rockers were holding the two valves down, they were stuck for some other reason.

the pistons all look fine as do the cylinders. I cleaned the surface and used my machinist level and feeler gauge and the block is nice and flat at least.

I ordered 4 replacement push rods, 2 replacement rockers, and 9 replacement lifters (need to wait a bit for the other 7 to come back in stock).

ill just have to decide if I want/need to replace the oil pump and water pump, along with the cam. I suspect that the cam may have been damaged, there does look to be some dark marks and what looks like a bit of scratching.

 

Pics will help us help you. Even I would probably pop for the new cam if you are buying the lifters anyway, and I am a cheap bastard.

 

Haha, you’re right. Sounds good, I’ll post up some pictures tomorrow.

 

Actually here are some pictures of the cam, and all of the various bits of damage.


The driver side lifters looked newer, or at least cleaner than the other bank

Dirty side

Passenger side head gasket blown completely out in two spots. Makes sense why those two cylinders had such low compression.

The four lifters that were damaged. The two that are pinched in are from cylinder 6. The other two that have lost their caps are from cylinder 4 and 3.

Here are the damaged ends of the four push rods corresponding to the four damaged lifters.

Here is the blown side of the block. The pistons don’t look washed, and after a quick clean the 0.05mm feeler wouldn’t fit under the machinist level.

Firewall end of the camshaft.

Radiator end of the camshaft.

The two damaged rockers. The rocker and rods were loose when I took the covers off, and could be rattled around in their cups.

The driver side head, looks fine.

 

Question.

What do the lobe side of the lifters look like?

I would also mic the lifter bores. All that damage to those parts can cause undue stress on the bores.

 

What does ‘mic’ mean?

so I had a look at all of the lifters, and strangely enough they are all seemingly fine except for two.

One is the intake lobe on cylinder 1, which showed no other damage to the push rod, the top of the lifter, or the rocker.

Neither damaged lifter faces are on lifters from the bank that blew out the head gasket, and neither are from the cylinder that had the stuck valves/loose rocker and push rod connection.

Here are a few pictures:


These are a few of the lifters. A faint circle on each, but look flat and undamaged. All but two looked this way.

This is the intake lifter from Cylinder 1, I has square like wear in to superimposed angles on it. It is worn enough to feel the edges with a finger.

Here is the intake lifter from Cylinder 3. It has the same wear/damage as the lifter from cylinder 1.


the other was the intake lobe on cylinder 3, which was one of the lifters that had lost its retaining clip at the top, and the push rod had pushed past the top seat.

 

Ok, with those last two lifter shots I can guarantee you need a new cam. Congratulations on a unique failure I have not seen before on this forum or really anywhere in 35 years of being a gearhead. Now it is the chicken or egg question. The only way those failures happen is likely with a lube failure. Pull the cam out and let's have a look at the journals and cam bearing bores - my recollection is the oil feeds the lifter bores from the journal bearings, but I need to look at the Rave to refresh my memory.

By "mic" he means measure the lifter bore with a micrometer, which by the way requires a special bore micrometer which very few folks have access to. Let's see a photo of the outside diameter of those last two lifters, and then put a good lifter in those bores and see if there feel a bit loose. If the bores are damaged, you are in the market for a new block.

 

So I took a nice and clean/flawless lifter from cylinder 1 (exhaust) and ran it through each lifter bore hole. It went smoothly through them all.

interestingly, the passenger bank lifters look a little dirtier and older, and several needed to be slightly persuaded to come out the top of the notes. All driver side lifters are cleaner and appear newer, and all came out easily and smoothly.

back to the cam, I turned the crank and looked at the lobes corresponding with each damaged lifter, and there didn’t appear to be any damage, or marks at all for that matter. There was also clear oil distribution on each lobe when I turned the crank.

pistons all rise and fall smoothly as well, seems to turn nicely in general.

 

Yeah, what Extinct said. Sorry. I too have never seen anything like that. Scary.