Valve Seals
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 394
Likes: 0
From: illinois
Car: 86 camaro
Engine: 433 big block
Transmission: jw powerglide 5500 coan stall
Axle/Gears: moser9" 4:11 posi
you'll need the fitting that goes into the sparkplug hole to hold the valves up and the air compressor to run it.i would recommend a stud mount spring compressor, i bent the stamp steel one. and your new seals.this is the way ido it, maybe not the best. remove the #1 plug and insert the fitting, turn on the air, remove the exhaust rocker arm, use the tool to compress the spring and remove the keepers- it really helps to have someone help you here.release the spring and remove it and the retainer. your old seal will be there . install new and work your way around the car. then you'll have to set your valves. if you've never done you should get someone that has to help.
Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 257
Likes: 0
From: ***'s country, henry county,ohio
Valve seals are a piece of cake.
The hardest part of replacing the seals is getting the valve covers off.
Here is a suggestion, go to your local high school or Technical college, and ask one of the instructors to show you some pictures, or if they have a small block chevy torn down, to show you how the stuff goes together.
Another suggestion is to go to a couple of machine shops in your area, and ask if you could watch them do a couple of seals on a bench. If they aren't complete a$$holes, they would probably get a kick out of showing you.
Just tell them that you want to learn.
When you do your seals, here are a couple of tips:
The rope trick, pull the valve covers, remove the rocker arms, pull the spark plugs, stuff a couple of feet of 3/8 rope into the spark plug hole, (be sure to leave enough out for you to pull it out) turn the motor over by hand until the piston is jamming the rope up against the valves.
"Wake em up" take a 1/2" deepwell socket and place it over the valve stem/ locks, and with a hammer, give the socket a firm rap.
This will unseat the locks in the retainer and make it come apart easier.
Be sure to wear a pair of work gloves while you are compressing the spring (especially if you are using a screw type spring compressor, cause some times springs go "boing").
A small magnet on a stick works good to get the locks out.
When you put on the stem seals, the hard plastic ones go on the exhaust, the neoprene ones go on the intake, they both get o-rings on the top. You have to compress the spring and retainer, put them on the valve stem, put the o-ring in its groove and then put the locks into place and pull up on the spring/ retainer /locks while un screwing the compressor, assuming you are using a screw type compressor, to keep everything in position.
Don't waste your money on a haynes manual. At minimum, get a Chilton's or preferably a year specific factory service manual, the factory books will have everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. You can usually find them on ebay for 20-30 bucks.
Once you get the hang of it, you can do each valve seal in about 15 minutes without even pushing yourself.
Good Luck
The hardest part of replacing the seals is getting the valve covers off.
Here is a suggestion, go to your local high school or Technical college, and ask one of the instructors to show you some pictures, or if they have a small block chevy torn down, to show you how the stuff goes together.
Another suggestion is to go to a couple of machine shops in your area, and ask if you could watch them do a couple of seals on a bench. If they aren't complete a$$holes, they would probably get a kick out of showing you.
Just tell them that you want to learn.
When you do your seals, here are a couple of tips:
The rope trick, pull the valve covers, remove the rocker arms, pull the spark plugs, stuff a couple of feet of 3/8 rope into the spark plug hole, (be sure to leave enough out for you to pull it out) turn the motor over by hand until the piston is jamming the rope up against the valves.
"Wake em up" take a 1/2" deepwell socket and place it over the valve stem/ locks, and with a hammer, give the socket a firm rap.
This will unseat the locks in the retainer and make it come apart easier.
Be sure to wear a pair of work gloves while you are compressing the spring (especially if you are using a screw type spring compressor, cause some times springs go "boing").
A small magnet on a stick works good to get the locks out.
When you put on the stem seals, the hard plastic ones go on the exhaust, the neoprene ones go on the intake, they both get o-rings on the top. You have to compress the spring and retainer, put them on the valve stem, put the o-ring in its groove and then put the locks into place and pull up on the spring/ retainer /locks while un screwing the compressor, assuming you are using a screw type compressor, to keep everything in position.
Don't waste your money on a haynes manual. At minimum, get a Chilton's or preferably a year specific factory service manual, the factory books will have everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. You can usually find them on ebay for 20-30 bucks.
Once you get the hang of it, you can do each valve seal in about 15 minutes without even pushing yourself.
Good Luck
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Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 257
Likes: 0
From: ***'s country, henry county,ohio
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by jeffs82z28
With the engine in the # 1 firing position, (#1 top dead center, timing pointer at "0", both valves closed) Adjust these valves:
Exhaust : 1, 3, 4, 8
Intake : 1, 2, 5, 7
Turn the motor 1 revolution and adjust:
Exhaust : 2, 5, 6, 7
Intake : 3, 4, 6, 8
Factory Service Manuals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just tighten the rocker nut till there is no lash betwee the pushrod and rocker, then tighten the nut an additional 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn.
This is assuming that you are using hydralic lifters and the camshaft isn't from the bottom of the page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by jeffs82z28
With the engine in the # 1 firing position, (#1 top dead center, timing pointer at "0", both valves closed) Adjust these valves:
Exhaust : 1, 3, 4, 8
Intake : 1, 2, 5, 7
Turn the motor 1 revolution and adjust:
Exhaust : 2, 5, 6, 7
Intake : 3, 4, 6, 8
Factory Service Manuals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just tighten the rocker nut till there is no lash betwee the pushrod and rocker, then tighten the nut an additional 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn.
This is assuming that you are using hydralic lifters and the camshaft isn't from the bottom of the page.
Supreme Member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,158
Likes: 0
From: New Orleans
On my 87 TPI Trans Am:
Besides buying the seals, I picked up an air hold set for about three bucks to let me put compressed air (20 to 25 psi) into the spark plug holes. I put a hose barb on the end of the air hold. Next I cut a 1 foot length of air hose (with a male quick connect on one end to hook to the end of my air compressor hose). This setup made it pretty easy to hook up air to most of the cylinders, despite having to work around headers. Oh yeah, a valve spring compressor too. I used one from Autozone's loan-a-tool.
I did the passenger side first. I had to tie the heater hoses that run over the valve cover up out of the way, unplug the fuel
injectors and move that wire harness out of the way, and remove some sort of metal breather tube attached to the intake manifold near the upper valve cover flange. Then, I unplugged all my spark plug wires and removed the valve cover.
For rocker arm removal, I layed out some paper to lay the arms on after removal. I took them off back to front, counting how many turns it took to take them off. That way, I could just take note of that for each rocker arm, and put them back the same. It kept me from having to worry about resetting valve lash. In my case, every rocker arm nut was 12 turns. I put the arms down on the paper in a row and wrote it down anyways though.
To actually replace the seals, it took me a little while before I got a good system down. I started out hooking up the compressed air and then doing both the intake and the exhaust. Then I realized that this made me compress the spring, remove the keepers, uncompress the spring, remove it, and set it aside
only to have to be recompressed in order to reinstall it. So, the better method seemed to be to compress a spring, remove the keepers, and remove the spring while still at least partially compressed in the valve spring compressor. Then I could
replace the seal and put the spring back on without having to compress it again. I realize that this is not the safest way to do it. Gloves and safety glasses are a good idea.
If you use the type of valve spring compressor that I did (screw type, not rocker arm stud type), you'll likely see this problem. When I compressed the springs, the bottom coil would lift off the head, rather than the retainer moving downward so that I could remove the keepers. You've got to break loose the retainer/valve stem/keeper connection before you compress the spring (if using this type compressor). I used a large socket on
a 3" extension. I put this on the retainer and gave a few solid taps with a hammer. This made sure that when I compressed the spring, things would come loose ok on the top. Once they did, a magnetic tipped screwdriver helped remove the keepers.
Intake seals: Once the spring is removed, it is simply a remove and replace. Mine had old seals and old dry o-rings that I had to take off. The o-rings just crumbled when I messed with them, so I made sure to clean up all the little pieces. The old seals were stuck pretty well in place until I used pliers to rotate them and break them loose. Be careful using pliers in there cause you don't want to scratch the valve stem. Once the seal broke loose
from the guide, you can pull it off by hand, make sure the area is clean, and push the new seal on. Fel-pro supplies little plastic sleeves that, once trimmed, keep the new seal from catching on the grooves in the valve stem seal while you press them on. Make sure you push them on really well so they will stay in place and not slide with the valve.
Exhaust seals: My car only had o-rings to remove. As with the intake side, they crumbled and were easy to remove. The guide area was a great deal dirtier than the intake ones, so I had to rub a little harder with a rag to clean things up before putting the new seal on. The seals just slide down until they stop and then they're done.
Spring reinstallation (intake and exhaust): At this point, we've still got the new o-rings. They don't go on until the very end. With the new seal installed and the spring compressed while in place, the o-rings get put on. They go in the lower groove in the valve stem. It is a little tricky to push them down there (it is 1/4 inch or so below the top of the retainer with the spring compressed), but works fine using a couple small screwdrivers to push them down there. You can tell when they get in the right place, since they kind of pop into the groove. Once the o-ring is in place, you can put the keepers in and decompress the spring.
note: compressing the springs enough that the top of the retainer is about 1/4" inch above the plane of the valve cover gasket seemed to be the right place to make removing the keepers easy and to be able to push the o-rings down into place.
Hmmm. I guess I didn't end up following any great order in this stuff, but that's how my memory worked out for me. The most time consuming part was hooking up the air hold to each cylinder (or rope if you go that route) and replacing spark plugs afterwards. Oh yeah, most importantly, no more smoke!
They seem to be working out great so far. I almost wish I had used the other kind of valve spring compressor though. It would have eliminated having to do the hammer trick.
Ok, just one more thing. Even though the driver's side looked like it would be easier to get to, it was more work to get the valve cover off. After moving the injector wiring harness out of the way, I still had to move the A/C compressor aside to get the valve cover off and remove the wiper motor to get the valve spring compressor to the #7 cyl.
Alright, I'm going to stop now. Hopefully I haven't scared anybody away from the job. Let me know if anything didn't make sense or if you want more detail (yeah, right) on something.
MikeS
Besides buying the seals, I picked up an air hold set for about three bucks to let me put compressed air (20 to 25 psi) into the spark plug holes. I put a hose barb on the end of the air hold. Next I cut a 1 foot length of air hose (with a male quick connect on one end to hook to the end of my air compressor hose). This setup made it pretty easy to hook up air to most of the cylinders, despite having to work around headers. Oh yeah, a valve spring compressor too. I used one from Autozone's loan-a-tool.
I did the passenger side first. I had to tie the heater hoses that run over the valve cover up out of the way, unplug the fuel
injectors and move that wire harness out of the way, and remove some sort of metal breather tube attached to the intake manifold near the upper valve cover flange. Then, I unplugged all my spark plug wires and removed the valve cover.
For rocker arm removal, I layed out some paper to lay the arms on after removal. I took them off back to front, counting how many turns it took to take them off. That way, I could just take note of that for each rocker arm, and put them back the same. It kept me from having to worry about resetting valve lash. In my case, every rocker arm nut was 12 turns. I put the arms down on the paper in a row and wrote it down anyways though.
To actually replace the seals, it took me a little while before I got a good system down. I started out hooking up the compressed air and then doing both the intake and the exhaust. Then I realized that this made me compress the spring, remove the keepers, uncompress the spring, remove it, and set it aside
only to have to be recompressed in order to reinstall it. So, the better method seemed to be to compress a spring, remove the keepers, and remove the spring while still at least partially compressed in the valve spring compressor. Then I could
replace the seal and put the spring back on without having to compress it again. I realize that this is not the safest way to do it. Gloves and safety glasses are a good idea.
If you use the type of valve spring compressor that I did (screw type, not rocker arm stud type), you'll likely see this problem. When I compressed the springs, the bottom coil would lift off the head, rather than the retainer moving downward so that I could remove the keepers. You've got to break loose the retainer/valve stem/keeper connection before you compress the spring (if using this type compressor). I used a large socket on
a 3" extension. I put this on the retainer and gave a few solid taps with a hammer. This made sure that when I compressed the spring, things would come loose ok on the top. Once they did, a magnetic tipped screwdriver helped remove the keepers.
Intake seals: Once the spring is removed, it is simply a remove and replace. Mine had old seals and old dry o-rings that I had to take off. The o-rings just crumbled when I messed with them, so I made sure to clean up all the little pieces. The old seals were stuck pretty well in place until I used pliers to rotate them and break them loose. Be careful using pliers in there cause you don't want to scratch the valve stem. Once the seal broke loose
from the guide, you can pull it off by hand, make sure the area is clean, and push the new seal on. Fel-pro supplies little plastic sleeves that, once trimmed, keep the new seal from catching on the grooves in the valve stem seal while you press them on. Make sure you push them on really well so they will stay in place and not slide with the valve.
Exhaust seals: My car only had o-rings to remove. As with the intake side, they crumbled and were easy to remove. The guide area was a great deal dirtier than the intake ones, so I had to rub a little harder with a rag to clean things up before putting the new seal on. The seals just slide down until they stop and then they're done.
Spring reinstallation (intake and exhaust): At this point, we've still got the new o-rings. They don't go on until the very end. With the new seal installed and the spring compressed while in place, the o-rings get put on. They go in the lower groove in the valve stem. It is a little tricky to push them down there (it is 1/4 inch or so below the top of the retainer with the spring compressed), but works fine using a couple small screwdrivers to push them down there. You can tell when they get in the right place, since they kind of pop into the groove. Once the o-ring is in place, you can put the keepers in and decompress the spring.
note: compressing the springs enough that the top of the retainer is about 1/4" inch above the plane of the valve cover gasket seemed to be the right place to make removing the keepers easy and to be able to push the o-rings down into place.
Hmmm. I guess I didn't end up following any great order in this stuff, but that's how my memory worked out for me. The most time consuming part was hooking up the air hold to each cylinder (or rope if you go that route) and replacing spark plugs afterwards. Oh yeah, most importantly, no more smoke!
They seem to be working out great so far. I almost wish I had used the other kind of valve spring compressor though. It would have eliminated having to do the hammer trick.
Ok, just one more thing. Even though the driver's side looked like it would be easier to get to, it was more work to get the valve cover off. After moving the injector wiring harness out of the way, I still had to move the A/C compressor aside to get the valve cover off and remove the wiper motor to get the valve spring compressor to the #7 cyl.
Alright, I'm going to stop now. Hopefully I haven't scared anybody away from the job. Let me know if anything didn't make sense or if you want more detail (yeah, right) on something.
MikeS
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