devwolf

Now, I'm aware this has been asked many times. Ive read the other threads about the rope trick, soccet, compressed air, etc. So give me a sec to break down the situation here before flaming that keyboard. I'm rebuilding my highschool car that's been with me for the last 17 years. Its a puny little 305 TBI, and by no means does it 'deserve' this. But there is love for this engine and the car. We are doing a 334 bore and stroke ProFlo 4 XT TPI setup to it, running 11.81:1 on mirror polished TrickFlow 175 Super 23 dual spring heads. Obviously the chambers and ports arent fully smoothed and polished yet, (The intake ports are semi-polish, incase any of you fuel condensation nuts are reading this :P ). Against my better judgement, I went ahead and got started, with some cotton stuffed near the stems to keep them protected from metal dust. I was weak and impatient lol. But thats neither here nor there.

The block is currently out getting a bath and machine work. Bore, primary mains oiling mods, the works. Because the block isn't here, my options for popping these keepers is limited. Ive got one of the lever action stem compressors that you would generally use under compression strokes. When I compress the stems, the keepers refuse to let go. Ive tried a rubber mallate, the soccet and hammer trick, and even tried gently tapping the bottom of the stem with a squared up wood dowel while its compressed (I think I heard them laughing at me while doing this), and those bastards just will not let go.

Now, I could wait for the block to come back and do the rope trick, but frankly the wood dowel tapping was cringy enough for me as it was. And my gut tells me compression strokes arent gonna cut it here. I see another type of valve tool that seems to be something like a clamp with a sort of flat swivel at the bottom that im assuming is meant to press the stem up. Ive never used one of these or seen one used, so im not entirely sure what the deal is with them.

Heres a link to what im talking about - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/otc-4572?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-otc-tools&gclid=CjwKCAjw-OHkBRBkEiwAoOZql5wx_SfNeF4q6bc1IQfCCCtxiw6ak2HxDAopdN-VOfWNPPEXkM3BuhoCrc8QAvD_BwE

Looking at the lever, it looks like ill need Hulk Hogan or a pry bar to compress these springs, but thats not a problem, Hogan lives on Clearwater Beach 10 mins from here. Question is, have any of you used one of these things, do they work, and are they worth the 50 bucks for stuck keepers? Do you have any other suggestions on tools or techniques? If I use these, what should I look out for, to keep from bending my stem? Just keep it centered?

Any advice here is appreciated. I've spent almost a week of spare time on these damn things and nothing I try seems to get me any closer to getting them off. I've done stems once before on the stock parts and they were stuck too, but not like this. I swear if I didnt know better, I'd say the assembler spilled superglue on these damn things lol.

3rdgenmaro

iTrader: (9)

Use the tool you have linked. It is made to be used with the heads off the engine. Always better to use the tool designed for the job.


when you tried to "shock" the keepers loose by hitting them with a deadblow hammer, did you use a socket or something to push down only on the retainer?

Beeman

Place the head on a wood table or on a piece of wood. Place a socket over the retainer and hit the socket with a hammer. Then use the C clamp style valve spring compressor. Ck Autozone or Advance and see if they lend them.

devwolf

Tried both. Used rubber mallate when no soccet was present hoping it might torque the cap sideways enough to crack the keepers loose from whatever they're biting. With the soccet on, i used a piece of electrical tape to keep from marring the finish up (when you pay 1250$ for heads...). And I suppose that may have hindered the process but it was only one piece thick, so who knows. Im not willing to sacrifice the finish on those caps if i can avoid it. The C clamp tool probably will anyway, but a man can dream.

devwolf

Im just gonna go ahead and buy one man. I would rather have the tools present in my work area should this ever come up again. Im sure autozone would rent them, but considering how badly these are on there, im a little worried that i may bend the damn thing. And in that case, its cheaper to just have bought it online instead of having to now own the bent set at the retail price (security deposit).

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

The Summit tool you linked is the tool to use, BUT you are still going to have to give the retainer a whack to get it to break free.
My retainer-to-seal clearance wasn't enough, and as the valve seals hardened over time, the keepers and valve lock grooves got beat to hell.
If this happens to be the same in your case, once you get them to break free, DO NOT try to pull the valves through the guides. You will ruin the guides if you do so.
They will have a heavy burr on them and you will need to grind that off first. Again, if this did happen, you need new valves and keepers and retainers.
Good luck.

Edit: P.S. - don't build a 334. Ask me how I know.

<<< HINT

devwolf

Got it off with the C clamp. No "whacking" required. Was a pretty violent pop on all but 2 of them. Theres some kind of sticky oil residue on them that I think has contributed to the problem. Cosmolene or something? There were no significant burs by the way, I checked with my calipers and fingers before removing them. They slipped right out like butter. What do you mean your seals hardened over time? These are brand new heads with decent hats. Nice and squishy. They will get plenty of oil from my high flow / high pressure oul pump. Theres also 0.58 lift on my cam and rockers with a max 0.6 lift head. Were you running hot? My engine runs warmed up at about 1/4 of the way up the gauge, which is about half of what its stock running temp was, which is great for the high silicone, perfomance rings and tight tollerances im using. I did some cooling system mods and the fan is always on, so drying and cracking shouldnt be an issue. Am I missing something? That sounds like pre mature aging from heat and not enough oil.

As for building the 334, please note the history of me and this car in my initial comments. Its getting done rather the internet likes it or not. These builds, when you go full blown race build wirh 12:1 static and 7.5:1 dynamic with a massive cam, make about 400-430hp at the crank with a steep power curve in the high end, naturally asperated, when using EFI TBI and a self tuning ECU. They respond very well to buildups when you know what you're doing. Can a 350 make more? Yes. But thats not the point in doing this. Its nostalgia and love for that engine and the car.

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I get it about the 334. I did it to keep the original block in place because Connecticut was contemplating California emissions standards at the time.
RHS set up my heads, but I found out 20 years later when I took the engine apart to see why it failed after 19,000 miles, that they were NOT the heads I ordered.
I ended up getting WP 305 race heads for a circle track racer, I believe. They have 2.02/1.6 valves and giant valve seals that didn't fit properly.
But I didn't know as much then as I do now. So I figured RHS knows more than I do and bolted them on. Little did I know at the time that the retainers were kissing the top of the valve seals at max lift. While they were new, they were soft. Over time, as any rubber does, they got, say "less rubbery", which caused some lifters to start eating cam lobes. That sent that sharp shrapnel throughout the engine, damaging everything. I resurrected it and it is still sitting on my engine test stand. That stupid 334 with all it's "custom" parts cost me 3 times what it should have in the end.