Anybody out there had any experience with using hydraulic valve lifters (like those from Weber Camshafts) in a 914 2.0L four? This seems to me to be a good way to eliminate the hassle of manual valve adjustments on 914 four cylinder engines. All and any info greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I had hydraulic WebCam (#91 grind) with hydraulic lifters. It reduces but does not eliminate adjusting valve lash. I had one lifter that took 5 minutes to pump and get quiet. There is a different set of issues with hydraulic versus non-hydraulic.

Others will chime in I am sure. I think Jake Raby quit offering hydraulic as an option years ago...

They suck...period.

I won't use hydraulic lifters on any motor I build at my shop,. . . EVER!!

All it takes is one 10 minute drive in a car with a lifter that won't pump-up to change your mind on hydraulic lifters.

How can that be? There is a vast sea of cars driving these days that have hydraulic lifters - are there no good ones that can be used in our engines? Is the problem caused by poor manufacturing of the hyd lifters that are currently available for these engines? Is the oil system not compatible with hydraulics? I'm confused at why this is a problem.

I thought they sounded like a good idea when I had a motor built 15 or so years ago. They were great on the street when i was babying my motor. Never had to take the valve covers off. They would always eventually pump up for me, though at one point after sitting for 6 months I had to change to a really light weight oil to get them to do so.

Then i started auto crossing and learned to hate them real fast.

I now have a new motor and 2.0 with hydros just sitting on my garage floor.

Most are in iron blocks or are at least the lifter bores are sleeved (steel or bronze) also VW vans that had hydros had no lifter oil pressure relief valve. The VW van is a low performance, low RPM bread box. Back when companies pushed hydro conversions in the T1 beetle they had such a bad record in the soft mag case they resorted to sleeving the bores...but they still sucked. Even then no quality VW engine builder would use them, even though there was good profit in selling them to lazy peeps.
The VW Hydro cam also has gentler ramps which is not what you want in a performance car.

Learn to adjust you valves, do a chevy or subi conversion.... or pick another car.

Think of a hydro lifter as a cup pf beer. (Mmmmmmmm, beeeeeeeeerrrrrr) In 99% of engines, these are in a "V" or vertical "I" engine and the cup is upright so it's difficult for the oil inside to come out. In our engine's the cup has tipped on its side and when a car is parked for an extended period of time, the oil runs out (loosing it's prime). What results is the sound of 8 midgets with jack-hammers when you start the engine. Depending on (1) how often the oil was changed throughout it's life, (2) how much wear has occurred in the lifter bores/lifters, (3) what weight oil you run, (4) how much oil pressure your pump makes, etc, etc. this momentary lack of oil in the lifters can linger on for many minutes. It sounds so bad that I've had clients tow their vehicles in thinking the motor was toast. I once had a Vanagon that took 15 minutes at hwy speeds to finally pump-up the last lifter!!!!

There is also a big lack of performance cams readily available for hydros. Who wants to run a cam that is just one step off of stock??

Other than the stuff mentioned above, they're great!!

Fully agree with all of the above. The PO of my car had them installed when he rebuilt the engine. They're not bad if you drive every day and I have no problem pulling to 5k rpm. But when the car sits for a while and you're waiting for them to pump up, you'll swear your engine is destroying itself. Two weeks ago I went as far as removing a lifter and rebuilding it because I thought there was something wrong with it. Turns out I just needed to wait another 15 minutes for the damn thing to pump up.

Aircooled engines don't care for hydraulic lifters..

Thanks for the replies and helpful information. Being able to get first hand experience like this is what makes this site worthwhile.

Hey 'Roadsterman60

As my screen name would suggest, I have been running hydraulic lifters (for the last 6 years). I am not handy working on cars, but I have had luck selecting parts and setups that work and finding the right mechanics to make it happen. When I purchased my 914 it had a 1.8 four, and I knew I wanted more power. I kept the 1.8 while I had a local machinist build a 2.0 liter for me on a used case with new Mahle cylinders, rods and pistons. Fuel is delivered by two Webbers and spark is from a Mallory Unilite.

When it came to selecting a cam and lifters, I read all the posts about how hydraulic lifters are junk, but I wanted the freedom from having to adjust the valves on a regular basis and I found one single post where a member had luck with Isky cams and lifters.

Now, my preferred driving in my 914 is very twisty back roads where speeds seldom exceed 50 mph. If I were racing the car or trying for top speed, maybe my choice would be different. Isky offered two options "power" or "torque." I chose the torque grind and bought the cam and lifters from Isky. This is not a time you want to mix and match.

I have been very happy with the results. My engine has been dynoed at 109 hp and 119 lb/ft at the rear wheels at 5000 rpm with a pretty flat torque band from 3200 rpm. For the kind of back road driving I enjoy the power is perfect. I don't need to rev it to 7000 to make peak power, 5000 is just fine for my application.

My advice is to make your own decision. There are a lot of strong opinions expressed on this board, but ultimately it is your choice how you want to build your engine.

Why did Porsche finally use hydraulic lifters on their last aircooled models?