Retro fit
 

Hello everyone,
Ive been wondering if its possible to retro fit hydraulic tappets to a head that has shims. Cheers, Brian.

Yes, but it will be lots of work for next to no gain.

Retro fit
 

The reason I ask is that I've access to a new cylinder head but the head is bear. I have already bought a new cam and instead of fitting the old type tappets I would just simply fit the newer hydraulic tappets. Just checking before I buy.

Thanks.

They need to be pressure fed oil to work, so fab would be ext(p)ensive unless you work at a machine shop and are really bored.

Not sure about the diesel 6 cyl, but I just went through this on a 1.8L gas 4cyl, and found that besides the obvious problem of a lack of oil feed, the camshaft in a mechanical head has a larger base circle dimension.
IOW, if a solid cam is installed w/ hydro lifters, the bigger lifters will hold the valves off the seat at all times.
Conversely, a hydro cam with solid lifters will not contact the lifters during the base circle, only about halfway up the ramp will there be contact.