Actually, it's the valve keepers that are stuck. I tried whacking them with a socket and a mallet, I tried WD-40 and the stronger lubricant. No luck.

So my car's still down, not running, and I'm waiting to drop this backup engine in but can't get the damn valves off so I clean the inside plus most important thing here, replace the seals.

Unfortunately, this is the only compressor the stores here had
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...egoryCode=3491

 

Bring the pistons to TDC, 2 cyls at a time (1 & 6, 8 & 5, 4 & 7, 3 & 2) and try the hammer and socket trick on each pair in their turn.

Don't be shy; make sure you get their attention. Whap the hell out of em.

 

The heads are off the engine already. Now to clarify this.. do I whack the valve locks ... i.e. the small c-shaped clips ?


I think I'll see if I can find one of these instead
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...egoryCode=3491

So I can whack the valve from underneath if necessary

 

Put a socket over the retainer so that the keepers and valve stem are in the middle, and then beat it like a redheaded stepchild.

A much better spring compressor to use with the heads off is the giant C-clamp type.

 

Yeah but I seriously doubt they have them in the stores here and they are a bit pricey, right ?

The retainer, is the big "washer" correct ? Sorry bit tired of it now so can barely think right.

 

The retainer is the big washer on top of the spring, right.

The local stores might have one for sale, prices tend to vary. If you're lucky you might even be able to rent one.

 

OK guys, I tried whacking them again, this time I whacked them much harder, so hard that the keepers flew off and everything, didn't even have to use the compressor to remove the valves.

Good thing I did though, on two or three of the valves the seals broke off too, in several pieces. hmmm I HOPE I didn't break off too much though

 

If the heads are off, then it's too easy.

Put them on a wooden surface, and WAYLAY them with the hammer and socket.

Use about a 5/8" to 3/4" socket, on the retainer. Not the keepers.

I have NEVER EVER had a valve that failed to come apart by the hammer & socket method. Now that's only a couple hundred heads I suppose; but still, that's pretty good odds. Covers heads in every condition from pristine race-ready with solid roller springs, to old funkified gunky stock heads with a billion miles on them and springs I could compress by hand (typical stock springs...).

 

Before I clean up the valves, I may take some pics of them, to show how messy the intake valves are. Now is it normal for the intake valves to be a bit difficult to slide out ? The exhaust ones went out smoothly, the intake ones well not as smoothly, had to turn and turn finally got them out.


Is there a black plastic piece or anything that goes underneath the valve keepers on the valves ? i.e. in the second groove, not the top groove on the valves ?

 

The O-rings? Don't worry about it, they were already cracked and broken underneath the keepers.
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Did you draw file any burrs off the stems before you pulled them out?


That's where the factory O-ring seal goes.

 

I'm talking about what looks like hard plastic, not soft o-rings.


Nope didn't use a file on the valves.

 

That's the way most shops do "normal" disassembly. Much faster than using a spring compressor.

 

When the factory put them on there, they were soft o-rings. Over time they turn into pieces of broken hard plastic that leak oil and give rise to the famous blue smoke on startup.


The valve stems can mushroom very slightly over time from constant hammering, and they often need to be touched with a file to pull them out without damaging the valveguides. Your exhaust valve guides have worn enough that the valve stems fit through, but the intake valves have had vacuum pulling leaking oil through the guides so they hadn't worn as much.

 

ok kewl

 

Hope ya didnt bend the valves when you did that trick..
thats old school and kinda getto.. yes its faster but..
next time please use a spring compressor.

 

Nah didn't bend them, I used a socket and a rubber mallet, so I didn't have THAT much force on them, just enough. Didn't have a small sledge hammer, just a rubber mallet, and thing is just using the vavle spring compressor didn't work at all, those locks were stuck real bad.

 

Nothing of the sort. As the originator said, it doesn't put that much force on the valves. A dead blow mallet works very well.

Speaking of old school, valves are tougher these days than they were in the "old days".

 

if the heads are not on the engine then yeah c clamp compressor is the way to go

othewise if they are on the engine then that compressor above in the link is the one to use

ive never had this much trouble with removing any in the past, damn

the worst i had was recently on an old 70s ford 351M but i jut compressed tem and took a smaller hammer and knocked on the spring retainers a couple times and they would unstick so i could remove the locks



nver had this trouble on a chevy head, hum, wierd, i guess i am lucky then

good luck

 

I like hammering lightly on the retainers while the heads are on the engine with an air holder pressurizing the cylinder. Each hit while the keepers are still stuck on an exhaust valve makes a hollow bang through the exhaust, and an intake valve gives a pleasant pop through the intake tract, turning into a sudden quiet tap when the keepers finally let go.

 

I discovered a flaw in the heads too, the seats. On one or two seats, the angles cut for the valves are correct, but below the cuts the seat is not cut nice and round, it's actually wave patterned. A real nice hookup from GM's factory. But it's stock LO3 heads so I'm not worried about it, not going to waste money on the heads.

 

If you do this on a table you "could/might " bend the head of the valve..
I have to tap on most retainers to break them loose also.
I have also seen people bend valves doing the socket trick on a flat table.. atleast set the head on 2X4s so if the valve pokes out of the head when you smack it it wont hit the table and bend ..

 

i throught that was the whole point of the socket and mallet was to just compress the spring and not move the valve to take the pressure off the retainers

 

It is... but..... the valve and spring still get pushed down when you smack it.

 

perhaps i should have been more clear... i meant that the valve shouldnt be allowed to move if it can move freely as in noting to stop it then you will never get the keepers off

 

Yeah if you hit it hard and fast enough, actually more fast than hard, they'll jump off.

Now I have to finish my heads, need to clean up some surface rust, didn't get 100 % carbon out of them, but close to it, and then valve seals, clean the gasket surfaces and good to go.

 

The only way it can bend the valve is if the force required to break the keepers free from the retainer is greater than the force required to bend the valve. If that's the case, you probably needed new valves anyway.