Valve Seals Done

[rossiz]

the z is running well, but using a little oil and showing some oil-fouling around the perimeter of the plugs. compression is acceptable, so i figured i'd check the valve seals. thanks to blue's tech tips, i had the tools, parts and process sorted and went at it saturday morning.

couldn't wait to try out my new spring compressor

couple things i discovered:

1. i didn't have to mess w/my lash adjustment, just used the spring compressor to pull out the rocker arms and never touched the adjustors. easy-peasy, and the clearances checked out just fine when i was all done and put back together.
   
2. the collets/retainers were very stuck inside the spring cap - so much so, that when the first set popped loose, they shot out of the top of the retainer like pellets - one of them hit me in the forehead and landed on the intake manifold, the other flew off and landed with a "clink" somewhere... after a few minutes of feverish searching, i found it: sitting on the very edge of the "cliff of doom" - the edge of the hole down into the timing chain!! i grabbed my magnet and rescued it from causing untold damage.
   

so the lesson learned: put a finger on top of the keepers when breaking them free!! some of them were so stuck, i had to really push on the spring compressor - i was afraid i might bend a valve, with it pushing against the wadded up rope in the cylinder. but they all eventually came out.

i used an egg carton to keep my parts organized by cylinder and worked my way from 1-6, doing the full job on each cylinder before moving on to the next. with the plugs out and the car in neutral, it was easy to turn the cam with a wrench on the sprocket nut to get the lobes up and cylinder at tdc for each one.

the valve seals were crusty, hard and definitely past their prime. i wiggled all the valves when they were free, and fortunately the guides felt good - no excessive play, so i'm hoping the new seals will do the trick.

put her all back together, oiled the top end liberally before closing the cover, and she fired right up WITHOUT the little puff of smoke i was previously accustomed to. whole job was done in about 2 hrs - a good portion of that was figuring out how to do the first one, then it went pretty quickly.

put in a new set of freshly gapped plugs, and i'll be checking them in a few days to see if the oil is staying in the cases now...

[olzed]

Nice job.

I found that a few taps with a hammer around the perimeter of the spring caps before using the compressor, will loosen the collets.

[siteunseen]

I'm glad to hear that it's an easy job, I'm about to try it. Hopefully I can find a spring tool to rent.

[siteunseen]

One duh question. On every cylinder the piston needs to be at the very top before stuffing the rope in?

[rossiz]

yup - tdc required, or else a LOT of rope...

tip: after it's at tdc, put trans in gear , otherwise when you're pushing down on the valve it will move the piston and you have to start all over again.

job is easy - just takes time to do carefully. caution while pushing rope into cylinders: really easy to drag your screwdriver/poker across the plug threads, which are soft aluminum.

[Jeff G 78]

Two things...

ALWAYS stuff a rag into the timing chain hole so you don't lose anything down there

When you stuff the rope into the cylinder, do it with the piston a bit before TDC. Once the rope is all in, raise the piston via the crank damper bolt to compress the rope and put some pressure on the valve. Otherwise, the valve will open a bit when you use the spring compressor.

[Captain_Zeros]

ALWAYS stuff a rag into the timing chain hole so you don't lose anything down there

Also don't forget and leave your rag in there when you go to turn the engine over :stupid:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/engine-drivetrain-s30/49961-how-simple-valve-adjust-can-ruin-your-whole-day.html

[240260280z]

Geoffrey do you see what I see?

[Diseazd]

The only thing I see is the end of the mousetrap spring should be coming out of the center of the anchor spring not down through the center and a little wear on the timing chain. I give Blue....fill us in.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Diseazd

[rcb280z]

No rag in the timing chain hole is what I gather from Blues pic.

[Mark Maras]

On my 71 the "clothespin" springs, at the base, are not hooked in the loop. They are hooked on the back side. I really don't know which is right. As far as I know the head has never been apart. Is that a collet or piece of one on the right rocker?

[Diseazd]

The backside is correct.....probably works either way, but FSM has it hooked on the back so the little short end comes up in the center of the loop....IMO