The dire-ness of the situation is hard to tell.  Perhaps a head stud
snapped in a nice easy-to-grab place?  Perhaps it is not even a head stud,
but loose head nuts (perhaps unlikely).  You can confirm the head stud
theory and where/if it broke by pulling on the head nuts.

Lifters don't need to be disassembled if re-used.  I cleaned mine and
refilled though - although I think it is not necessary.  Do them
one-at-a-time if you do, so you don't mix up parts..  You are supposed to
put them back in the same hole they came from - I'm not sure how that works
when you replace them with a new/user one, so I guess it is a good practice
rather than a do-it-or-die kind of thing.

Tom

http://intellecti.ca -  scheduling and optimization technology

On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 9:03 AM, Richard Koller <brvkoller@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks you all for your insights, the situation sounds dire for the
> crankcase, will report what I find in a month or so. Another question,
> would the lifters need to be disassembled if reused?
> Thanks,
> Rick
>