I have a couple of different types of valve spring compressors however I find that neither is entirely suitable for removing springs with the engine in the car.
Of course the large c-clamp type is designed to be used with the heads removed from the engine.
The lever type which threads onto the rocker stud is not compact enough to use on several cylinders as the brake booster is in the way and there's insufficient room to swing the handle.
Who has used what to remove and replace valve springs on an installed engine?

 

The lever type is the one my friend uses to change springs in car. Its clockable to reach the other springs. Can also fab your own handle as needed to improve reach.

I think its a pita and rather would pull the motor or heads haha

I started to check my springs and found guide issues so i had to tear down anyway, but noticed it would be a pain to get all springs with the lever type compressor in car. I was gonna pull the heads at that point

 

Isn't that the truth.
I thought I was home free with just an intake manifold gasket replacement. I've been going through a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so and figured the Vortec gasket had given up.
What I found (after the intake was sealed up and torqued down) were fragments of valve seal floating around under the rocker cover. From an initial inspection it looks like half a dozen seals are "decapitated" so to speak.
There's plenty of room between the small beehive spring retainer and the guide (the setup is made to accept up .650" and I'm at .580") so I can only assume I mangled them by over-tightening my stud mounted spring compressor trying to compress the spring during the build on the bench. Nothing I could see when I inspected my work after the fact but there must have some damage along the way and now I see the results.
Hence my need for a tool that can be used with the engine in the car.
It'll probably be a combination of a couple of tools with modifications as you've suggested.
I found these on-line but I have no idea how effective they are. At least the 26918 springs are small without a lot of pressure like a double or triple spring would have.

 

I have used the second kind. n I got it at autozone and got the one that I could use a socket wrench on the end. Worked ok kinda hard to keep aligned but I only had to replace on spring.

 

I've used the second type too, on all valves. It was a bit of a fiddle for some close to the firewall, but it got all of them no probs. I remember having to fiddle with the compression height a little, clock it this way and that etc.

What I did notice is that it did not compress the spring concentric wth the valve, (cheap Proform pos) and I was in danger of damaging seals. I had to get the foot in the vice and bend it with respect to the body. After a bit of fiddling / fine tuning, managed to get a pretty concentric compression every time.

 

I've been using one of these for years without issue.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/22596094-k...ng-compressor/

 

Which second kind? I think I posted up a couple of additional pictures.

Was it this one?

 

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...fier=2052_0_0_

I used this one, I liked it because I could put a socket wrench on the handle.

Not perfect and a little hard to align but it is small and easy to work with.

 

I have one of those in my arsenal too.

 

I have one of those now as well. It looks like the tool of choice too as it's very compact and there's no need to have room to swing the lever up or down.

 

Sorry, my 'second' one was the second pic in post #1 with the lever handle.

I agree, the wine-press type Midias linked in post #8 looks the best, compact and compresses straight down.

 

Between the 3 of these I think I stand a chance.
Seals are on order.
I've got the air fitting needed to keep the valves up.
All I need is motivation.
Thanks everyone.

 

Personally i dont like the air fitting I have seen them fail when the valve stops sealing. I prefer the rope method.

 

Not having an air dryer on my compressor has me thinking about the rope method too. I'd hate to fill the chambers up with water. Sometimes there's as much air as water.

 

I use the rope method, but stuff each end of the rope into the 2 cylinders tdc'ing at the time - 1 & 6, 8 & 5 etc - and do 2 cyls at the same time.

 

Very clever.
What size rope works best?
I'm concerned that a chunk of rope could remain behind in the combustion chamber and cause other problems. It might be nit-picking but I would think that nylon would not be as good a choice as natural rope. At least from a remnants left behind point of view.

 

I used a cheap nylon rope from biglots it was either 1/4 or 3/8 I cannot remember. I do remember it was $2. There was no damage done to the rope.

I used a plastic straw in the plug hole to see when the piston was coming up then I put about 18" of the rope in the hole then cranked it until it wanted to stop.

 

Side tips

1. Get a magnet to pick up the retainers as they come out.
2. Put paper towel in every drain back and any other hole in the head. Retainers love to fly and fall into holes.

 

Got all that and good advice.
The biggest deal is to ensure I don't mangle ANOTHER set of seals (if that's what's happened here in the first place). With all of the appropriate clearances checked during the mock-up on the bench, it's the only conclusion I can come to regarding the destruction.
I'll know soon enough.