How old are you, and have you ever used the word?
We're sitting at breakfast, discussing old age.
How old are you, and have you ever used the word?
We're sitting at breakfast, discussing old age.
63. Yes. Talking with the engine re-builder last year about the Blue Flame 6 he did for the '55 210 last year. As in, "That's a flat tappet engine. Use Valvoline VR1" Used it many times in the past with the assorted Triumphs. Benny Hill's little Ol' man was a tappet too. 
40, used the word, never seen them in use.
Maybe have, actually. Do Detroit Diesels use flat tappets?
45
Lots.
Adjusted plenty of them.
Many times.
I've even set the valves on a flathead Ford
I'm 48 and I just had the opportunity to use that word about two years ago when I had a valve stem beat a hole into a rocker arm on the GenV 454 in the motorhome and I found out that what I needed to buy were "flat tappet lifters".
Peabody said:Many times.
I've even set the valves on a flathead Ford
That sounds like an Eagles lyric.
And, yes, I've used the word.
I'm 32, yep I've used it. "flat tappets" or "hydraulic lifters" and you'd probably stall my brain if you said "hydraulic tappets" or "flat lifters".
I've removed and reinstalled nave plates, tightened shaft packings, changed dashpot oil, cleaned timer box contacts, replaced stabliator straps and changed trafficator light bulbs.
I just taught the apprentice how to pack a stuffing box. I bet he's the only one in his class who even knows what a stuffing box is
Mid-30s and I've heard of flat tappet cams, don't remember exactly what they are...
Peabody said:I just taught the apprentice how to pack a stuffing box. I bet he's the only one in his class who even knows what a stuffing box is
I'm assuming this isn't either a Thanksgiving or sex slang?
And 42 and yes, but not very often!
Further, we were discussing Yogi adjusting the tappets in his K Honda, and I said that he wasn't, because there are rocker arms and lash adjusters, but no tappets as such.
Agree/disagree?
39 and most of the time it's to say "Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers" in an extravagant Boston accent.
I've greased and packed stuffing boxes on boats.
Some engines have the adjustment on the tappet, some have it on the rocker arm. Some really stupid ones actually adjust the height of the rocker on the stud.
32
My first car was a 74 Beetle that I built two engines for. Talked a lot about flat tappets and adjusting them every oil change.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I packed my first stuffing box, in 1982. Material used, and methods have changed just a bit since then, but still the same concept!!!
And, it never really dawned on me that there might be younger gear heads that didn't know why Click and Clack, were called the tappet brothers 
Now that ya mention it, there are probably young'uns on here, that have even heard of the Tappet Brothers 
Streetwiseguy said:How old are you, and have you ever used the word?
We're sitting at breakfast, discussing old age.
Yes. 45.... 6ish.
In my mind, tappets are mechanical, lifters are hydraulic, and followers are fingers.
What annoys the language center of my brain is that the component that comes to mind when the word "tappet" is used, is the device colloquially known as the mushroom lifter.
Right, but I've seen them on machinery too. (can't believe I'm 70). Running a hone to clean and size a tube 28ft. long to W/I .002 you crank a hand wheel on the drive shaft. Inside is a rod with cones on it, the cones move forward pushing the honing stones outboard. In the drive machine at the far end are two 1/2" rods 90* apart, each with a flat spt milled in and a small half circle detent. A steel ball sits in the detents and transfers the up-down motion of one rod to the other going in a different direction. That too is a tappet.
But now a question: New cams get new lifters. You run the engine at 2000 rpm for a while to "break in" things, one thing is to seat the lifter on the cam. Once comfy in its new home, can a lifter be used on a different valve in the same engine? Just curious.
In reply to 914Driver :
It's for the cam lobe, IIRC, not the lifter.
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