what lifters
 

here's the deal;;;a friend bought a 429bbf engine from someone and i put it in his 58 rachero for him;;he was told it had a solid lift cam in it..i got in car and started it with open headers..ran good in garge//took fuel good and everything seem good..loaded on trailer and had exhaust put on..with exhaust could hear valves rattle way to much and started popping though carb..pulled covers off and found 6 rockers off center of springs and those push rods bent..one completely in lifter valley...pulled intake and pulled lifter out of hole...
LIFTER;;has oil hole in middle of lifter;;;top of lifter can see it has piston inside lifter;;;on 3 lifters so far i've checked you can push the piston in and out of inside lifter[
I'M SAYING THESE ARE HYD LIFTERS;;;ARE THEY OR ARE THEY SOLIDS THAT HASN'T PUMPED UP SOLID?BEEN SO MANY YEARS I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT A SOLID LOOKS LIKE;;ALSO CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG BUT ISN'T A WAY TO TELL DIFFERANCE IS THE SOLID HAS OIL HOLE AT LOWER HALF OF LIFTER UNDER THE LIFTER PISTON;;;AND HYD OIL HOLE IS IN MIDDLE OF LIFTER AND MIDDLE OF PISTON..

WHAT LIFTER DO I HAVE HERE?

Sounds like a hydralic lifter you described.
All lifters have holes in the center though, thats where the rockers/heads get their oil from.

Did you "set" the lifters before you installed the motor?

Cp

no..never even took covers off..it was a turn key engine he got and i just did the swap for him;;took the 312 out and built mounts and drop in the 429bbf..he was told it only had 400 miles on it and looks of outside engine it looked that way so had no reason to take apart..now it has me thinking is it a solid cam and some dumy put hyd lifters in?another concern i have is why didn't lifters pump up;;i can push 12 of them down with no effort at all..the other 4 not able to push in...

Oil pressure pumps them up, was there any oil pressure? Sounds like the heads have springs not for a hydraulic lifter. A hydraulic lifter cant handle much spring before it collapses

Dont know on a bbf, but possibly a oil galley plug not installed or installed to far blocking oil flow to the lifter oiling.