I posted this info at another forum on the net but I feel it is important enough to share here as well.
Hello
Everyone with an NE5 engine should pay close attention to this post. Only the latest NE5 engines come with mushroom lifters. It is a pretty good bet that if your engine came with the aluminum intake spacer, it most likely has the mushroom lifters. It seams like these two changes to production were made at the same time. On the advise of a well known Whizzer engine guru I put mushroom lifters in my WC-1 when I upgraded to the NE5. At the time I thought it was just a performance thing but I have come to learn the other reason Quenton recommended them.
Yesterday I helped my brother (Kilroy) put mushroom lifters in his 2005 NE5. The engine only has 300 miles on it. This is an important fact because the lifters I removed from Kilroy's engine were shot! The ends of the lifters that ride on the cam were beaten and mushrooming out! The exhaust valve actually had a sliver of the lifter about to break off! You don't need a degree in mechanical engineering to know what kind of damage bits of metal can do to bearings. The reason this is happening is very simple. The NE engines have a higher lift cam than the WC-1 engines. The lifters I removed from my WC-1 were perfect. The problem comes from the higher lift cam. The lifters can not ride the cam lobes without damaging the cam because the lifters are too narrow. Now this is the sad part of the story. Instead of changing to the mushroom lifters they decided to soften the end of the lifter so it would mushroom out on it's own. This was a bad idea because it sets up every NE engine for mechanical failure! Bits of loose metal floating around in the block is a failure waiting to happen.
Now the good news. This defect is easy and relatively inexpensive to correct. Contact your local Whizzer dealer and order a set of mushroom lifters. Then contact Quenton and he will tell you how to make sure they are ready to use. As it turns out the QC is a little off on these too. They may need a little work to get them correct for use.
The potential damage that could occur if the stock lifters are not replaced is serious. A few dollars spent now could possibly save you much more down the road.
This post is not intended to bash Whizzer. It is intended to help us Whizzer owners get the most out of our investments.
I still love mine and have no intention of selling it. I have too much fun on it.
Jim
PS Kilroy posted these pictures of the lifters we removed from his engine. Remember this engine only has 300 miles on it when we removed these.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...D/100_1355.jpg http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...D/100_1358.jpg
