i just changed a bent pushrod and rocker on cyclinder #8 and i noticed that on the valve spring the little button that comes out a little bit at the top is pushed down, is this bad, do i need to replace it? when i changed the pushrod i noticed that the rocker was off the valve spring...

 

are you talking about the tip of the valve?
If it is sinking into the retainer you definately want to change the retainer and locks. I would not run the motor till you get it straightened out.

Sounds like you have severe valve train interferience or piston to valve collision.

What did you change? Cam? Did you drop something down the carburator?

 

Doesn't sound good. Sounds like a couple hard parts became acquainted with one another and mushroomed your valve stem. Give us some more details, or a picture.

 

the only thing i changed was the pushrod and rocker, i didn't drop anything into the carburator cause it's TPI, it is the tip of the valve that the rocker sits on. I already drove the car about 30 miles seems to run fine just a little less power, i'll try to get some photos up today or tomorrow...

 

heres some pics

 

and

 

The valve is wasted.

That head needs to come off. It'll never really run right like that, and will likely trash any rockers that you put on there.

 

Yep, she's toast. Time to pull the head and see what other carnage awaits you (could be nothing, but that could be just the tip of the iceberg). Either way, the head's gotta come off to replace the valve. Make sure none of the other valve tips look like that.

And what kind of rockers are those?? They don't look like small block Chevy V8 rockers. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo.

 

That valve should never wear out. It's got one of those highly effective rotators on it.

(Seriously, either that valve tip is ground to nothing or you're about to lose the retainer - or both.) Good time to upgrade?

 

that bleeping blows, does anybody know bout how much that would cost just labor, that rocker i got from advance auto parts, and none of the other valve tips look like that. hmmm upgrade? to what...

 

Manley Street Flow valves, and the full spring/retainer/lock/positive seal treatment. I'd suggest Comp 981 springs and the hardware to match, or the equivalent product from Crane, Lunati, Isky, Crower, etc. Basically one of the top-line cam mfrs: NOT K-motion, GM, or stock replacements such as Pioneer. FelPro POSITIVE seals. Not O-rings, not "umbrellas"; you want the ones that lock themselves onto the valve guide.

 

but what about price for labor, i know some stuff about cars but I think i would fudge this up, especially removing the distributer and puttting it back in...

 

The pic is a bit unclear. If the tip of the valve is worn or malled over then you'll have to pull the head off and replace it.
If all that is happening is that the retainer is failing then you can compress the spring and replace the retainer and locks. Once youve removed that retainer and spring you can inspect the valve stem tip and lock grooves.
You can use compressed air in the sparkplug hole to hold the valve shut to compress the spring. There is a simple leverage tool available from Proform, Kd tools or Crane cams to compresss the spring on the head using the rocker stud as a pivot point. May save you haveing to remove the head
if its just the retainer about to let go.
A replacement retainer and locks could be taken from a junk yard engine. If its a rotator type retainer ( exhaust side) then get a matching one. the locks are the same.

You can make a air hose to screw into the spark plug hole from a compression tester hose. Remove the hose form the guage and screw on a shop airline fitting. then remove the shrader valve core fron the other end of the hose that goes into the sparkplug hole. Loosen off both of the valves rockers for that cylinder and install your homemade hose and connect the other end to the shop air supply.

No one of those little 120volt tire inflater pumps will not do it. Most automotive parts stores stock the spring compressor. You'll likely find 1000 and 1 other uses for it too.
www.cranecams.com
www.proformparts.com
www.jegs.com

 

Yes it looks like the valve stem is completely rounded over.

I don't see anything wrong with the retainer and keepers, except for it all still being the factory crap. Which, if pennies are an issue, you can replace the valve, and re-use all that; on the other hand, upgrading it all right now, while you're getting the damage repaired, is the cheapest time to do it, since there's no extra labor involved. They can either re-install your old stuff, or install new, it's the same work. The same will not be true later.

It really doesn't matter very much how much it costs, it's gotta be done, if you want ot keep driving the car. All of us here can guess all day long at how much you'll have to spend, and we'll all be wrong. The answer to that is, it'll cost what it costs, and you basically have no alternatives; unless you decide to "save money" and drive it around broken, which will just run the tab up whenever it finally breaks something catastrophically and stops working altogether and leaves you no further choice.

Do as much of the work as possible yourself, which would most likely consist of taking the heads off and dropping them off at your local racing machine shop (NOT the corner parts store); and ABOVE ALL, DO NOT let them "swap" your heads for whatever they have in stock!!!! If you let that happen to you, you will almost certainly end up with TBI swirl-port heads, or 76cc smoggers from the 70s, or 434 castings with 1.72" intake valves, or some other downgrade from what you've got now. MAKE SURE they give you back the heads you took them, or if that's not possible or will take too long, THE SAME CASTING NUMBER.