Ok Im using the old rope trick since i cant get ahold of an air compressor. Anyways I fed rope into the spark plug hole until i thought i felt it stopping. Had to be at least 15 feet or so....then i turned the belt clockwise till it wouldnt go any further. The rope seemed to be stuck pretty good so i thought it was far enough. Anyways i took the pushrod out and put the spring compressor on the stud. Well the spring will compress but it feels like the valves going down to. Also its not compressing enough to get the retainer off....what am i doing wrong?

I found using the rope is not as easy for some people as for others. I have a compressor but started by using the rope method. After the first cylinder I switched to the compressor method. I was able to get the intake valve spring off after feeding the rope in but not the exhaust. I had to pull it out and feed it in a couple of times to get the exhaust one to hold. I assume the rope was not filling the chamber evenly.

Also I used a rubber mallot to very lightly tap on the spring compressor on a couple to break the retainer free from the locks.

Sounds like you are just not getting the rope to completly fill the area where the valves are.

If you can't make the rope work find a friend with a large lung capacity and run a tube to the spark plug hole and have him blow real hard till you get the spring out and new one in.

i prefer the air method, but anyway i'd say the seal ertainer valve are stuck together, rock it a little or tap it with a hammer

I only had to put in about 2 feet of 1/4" nylon rope in my 305.
Maybe more is not always better??

maybe he's missing a cylinder???? just kiddin'

Maybe try thinner rope? It'll fill up the space more evenly

Ok in the time i had after the storm i managed to get the front valve on #1 done. Which is the exhaust and which is the intake? because i have a set exhuast things that look real funny compared to the intake o rings....these are completely different. Well how do you know when the piston is up close to the head and not down low? which way do i need to pull the belt to get the piston up?!?

exhaust on #1 would be the one at the very front, it lines up with the exhaust port. it will have an umbrella seal whereas intake valves have posilock seals

Ok my main question now is how do I know when the piston is as high up as it will go? Im havent trouble figuring that out. I think its up then i tried to get the spring off and it wont budge. The exhaust did but the intake didnt.

sorry for all the question but i want to make sure i do this right the first time so i dont have to do this again...so far it has sucked.

Ok I found a picture what i have is an umbrella seal...so that goes on the exhaust valve? should there have been one on from factory because it wasnt there? Maybe it broke into a thousand pieces like my little o rings did.

Ok I have 8 of the umbrella seals and many o rings. Should I get a set of posiloc seals to?? If thats possibily the leak i want to change it to.

well considering you have 16 valves and only 8 seals I'd get 8 more of the posilock kind(for the intake). you should also have 16 o rings. you are using the two jaw puller right? it pulls on the spring and pushes on the retainer? i used one and had to hit the threaded rod with a rubber mallet on about every valve i did to break the keepers loose. the way i suggest putting the rope in is put your finger over the plug hole and turn the engine, stop turning when your finger stops feeling air being sucked in (this may take a while cuz if it's on the intake stroke you won't feel air being sucked in cuz the intake valve is open and will have to go another revolution), the piston is now at the bottom. now feed as much rope in as you can and turn the engine until you can't anymore, you should now be good to go. i also suggest removing all you spark plugs so it's easier to turn the engine over.

If you feed the rope in then turn the motor over using the crank (or even bumping the starter) the piston will mash the rope against the valves and stop allowing you to turn it over.

Take a socket or something and place it over the retainer around the keeper/valve tip then hit it firmly with a hammer a few times. That will break the keepers free. Now compress the spring and it'll come right off. Make sure you dont lose any keepers or drop them into any holes in the motor.

I went to go do this on my stock motor and realized about 5 of my valve spring dampers (the little metal coil inside the spring itself) were broke .......soooo, instead of just wasting money on stock heads I got different ones and a different cam and different gears and different stall and new suspension and well, you know what I'm getting to.

In addition, prior to breaking loose the retainer from the keys (locks) by rapping the retainer with a scoket & hammer, spray some penetrating oil on the locks. To assist in removing the keys once the valve spring is compressed, use a small magnet to pull the keys out.

Thanks alot everyone ill go get some of the posi locks for the intake valves. How come my #1 exhaust valve didnt have the umbrella seal?

it probably got brittle and broke off, did you burn a lot of oil before? are there any other seals missing?

well i still havent got a chance to work on my car again...it stormed all day again. Well the o ring seal was on the one i pulled but it was hard and broke into pieces when i touched it. About the posilock seals...do I need them. No parts store carries them and they looked at me like adumbass when i asked for them. It leaking oil pretty bad because it got to the point where it would blow out smoke even if the car had only been sitting for a second. used to just do it if it sat for along time. I get out of class at 9am tomorrow so I hope I can make it home and get this done before work at 6pm. I cant wait to get rid of that damn smoke at startup. Im sure new plugs will make a huge difference to

did you try the chevy dealer? i would try to get posilock seals. they were put on from the factory so should have replacements. i think the reason they used them on the intake is because during your intake stroke the engine creates some vacuum when it draws in the air/fuel and at the same time could suck oil past the valve stem and guide so the posilock seal keeps oil from coming in, that's just what i think though, dont know for sure

damn well I guess Ill have to go to a chvey dealer and check. Doubt they will have them tho.

Ask the dealer for seal kit 12511890, it has seals for the intake & exhaust.

My recommendation would be going to your local parts store and getting Fel-Pro SS72527 intake seals. Buy 2 boxes so you can use the intake seals on the exhaust also. They're like $13 a box and work great.

I went to the nearest chevy dealer this morning...they didnt have them either and said it would take 2 weeks to get them. So Im doing it without them. I finally got the drivers side done...Getting better its only taking me about 25min per cyclinder now. I should definetly finish tomorrow.

wait, you're only putting seals on half your stems???? hope you've got a BIG oil pan cuz you'll need it

Huh? Im putting seals on all them. I may go ahead and order the posi lock seals because those are probably the ones leaking. A lot of my o rings seals were broken or not there at all. I wish someplace had the damn things so I could go ahead and fix them while my car is in 1000 pieces. I want the damn smoke at startup to go away. The posilock seals on the intake seals are all there. They look like they are in decent shape. But I figure thats the only seal that could be causing the oil to get into the cyclinder when sitting. Unless the exhaust valves are since they didnt even come with a seal like that.

Train...could I use the umbrella seal type? The seals on the intake valves look very similar from what I could tell. Are they the same? Why don't parts stores keep these in stock but they keep the umbrella type seals and the o rings? That doesnt make since.

Ok, I thought you meant that since you couldn't find posilock seals you didn't put any on the intake side. My engine ('91 Vette L98) came with posilock on the intake and umbrella on exhaust from the factory so I would suggest getting posilocks for the intake. If you're going through all this trouble you may as well do it right.

I know its a bitch im having alot of trouble. Well I only have #6 and #8 to go so Im going to go ahead and do it without the posilocks and see what happens. If it doesnt leak oil anymore than good Im done with it. If it leaks ill order the posi locks and go to my uncles and use his air compressor. Cant believe it I was over there talking to him and he has a huge air compressor. One that will pump like 500psi. Man that would have saved me alot of trouble

The posilock seals dont look to bad. Whats wierd is that my exhaust valves didnt come with the umbrella seals. why? whats stopping oil from going around the valve?