Why soak them in anything other than the oil you're gonna be running? Why contaminate the oil with other crap?
Best way to prime lifters is with the oil pump. Take an old dist.,grind the gear teeth off and drive it with a drill motor. Run the drill for a couple minutes while watching for oil to pump up and spill into the rocker pivots,rotate the engine 90deg and run it again for two complete revolutions of the motor. Guaranteed there will be nary an air bubble in the lifters when you fire it up.
Best way to prime lifters is with the oil pump. Take an old dist.,grind the gear teeth off and drive it with a drill motor. Run the drill for a couple minutes while watching for oil to pump up and spill into the rocker pivots,rotate the engine 90deg and run it again for two complete revolutions of the motor. Guaranteed there will be nary an air bubble in the lifters when you fire it up.