I am replacing the valve stem seals in my 81 this weekend and I am not sure which way I am supposed to turn the engine to adjust the valves, does it make any difference? I am going to use a socket on the crank bolt. Thanks.

 

I'm not sure you want to crank on that bolt to hard, you don't want to break it off. With the plugs out you might be OK to turn it either way. I've got a big ol' strap wrench I've had for years that I put on the crank pulley if I want to hand spin a motor.
Scott

 

hi richard
please be careful turning the engine over by the crankshaftbolt.i 've heard of bolts sheering off or damaging threads.you might want to use your starter to rotate the engine bit by bit or if your's is a manual you can just put it in high gear and move the car.
good luck

 

I agree. By all means don't put that much stress on that dampner bolt...it would be a really big PITA to try to remove a snapped off dampner bolt. I would probably use the starter to turn the engine over. Another alternative is if you have a manual transmission. Stick the transmission into first gear (engine off of course) and if you have enough room you can rock the car forward by pushing on the door jam. It does take some behind to rock the car forward but it is really effective and you don't have to worry about snapping off the balancer bolt.

 

Richie, I could type for an hour about everything I went through on my '80 these past two weeks doing my valve stem seals. It is NOT, NOT fun on these later C3s. Love those '74-'77 non A.I.R. and non-A/C cars :yesnod: My poor hands are still sore, red, cut-up, etc, etc, etc. Be very careful in doing this job. If that valve dissappears and you lose one DO NOT crank the motor over at all!!!! I removed all my plugs, and was able to CAREFULLY turn the motor over with a 1/2 drive ratchet and socket, BUT, BUT I also was turning the water pump pulley with my other hand to ASSIST the wrench!!!

Also, I took an "old, grey, cheapie, used, Autozone" HEI distributor cap and cut out where the big coil sits, this way I was able to see which cylinder the rotor was pointing at and knew the cylinder was at top and on it's firing order, so the valves of that particular cylinder would be all the way closed. If you're standing on the left side of the car, looking at the motor, the crank turns from TOP to Bottom. The rotor of the distributor goes clockwise. If you are using the tool(that takes the place of a spark plug) that you hook an air line to to pressure up the cylinder to hold the valves up, on cylinders #3, 4 & 6, you need to screw the air fitting directly onto your airline as there is'nt enough clearance on those mentioned cylinders for the TOOL and the QUICK-DISCONNECTOR at the same time!!! Also, the motor does'nt need turned every cylinder-just four different positions and you can do all eight valves. #1 & #6, #8 & #5, #4 & #7, #3 & #2. Good luck, be careful!!!