Discovery under the valve cover!

I found out at the machine shop that I have machined valve guides. I guess this is for an aggressive cam. The valve guides are at the same height as the spring seat.

(Please note that the spring seats travel up the valve guide so the actual valve guide protrudes from the cylinder head 3/4" with the spring seat surrounding it)

I found these black disks that ride up and down on the valve stem and act as valve seals. Are these o-ring seals? They have the letter "D" stamped on them.

I can't find these seals any where. Can I just machine down the spring seats so I will have enough clearance to install umbrella valve stem seals?

Please let me know.

Thanks

 

Anyone?

I'm going to try to put this back together this weekend and any info would be greatfully appreciated.

 

Pics would be nice. I had my guides machined down for teflon seals. A minor cut actually... But my spring seats had to also be cut to allows the seals to come down far enough on the stem. Easy enough to chuck on the lathe & trim the shoulder off.

 

I would have to give that a big NO !!
Installing new guides will give you a place to install umbrella seals

 

Most aftermarket Spring Seats are only .062 of an inch thick. The stock L-98 Spring Seats are less than that I think.

If you could send some pics of your heads (specifically the valve guide and spring seat area) we could better determine how to fix this for you.
As for the seals, GM "Oring seals" are just that, little o-rings that go in the second grove on the valve stem.

Here is a pic of the 3 common SBC valve stem seals.

http://home.earthlink.net/~bndonaldson/seal.jpg

In the pic you will see the Valve Spring on the left.
1) Next is the stock type "PC" seal you should be using. They are made of different materials like tefelon, rubber, viton and metal clad viton. They clamp to the valve guide and the valve runs up and down in the seal. The seal acts like a wiper for the valve stem.

2&3)The next 2 seals are different versions of the old "Umbrella" seals made of plastic but they are available in rubber also. They clamp to the valve stem it self and ride along on the valve.

4)The last seals in the bag are the even older style "O Ring" seals. They go in the second grove of the valve under the retainer and locks. They also ride along with the valve.

I'm guessing your current seals look kinda like 2&3 but much shorter. Those type "Disk" seals were used on Chrysler 225 slant 6's and some older Ford engines. I could not find any pics of them, but no matter they have no place on a high performance Corvette engine. Like I said you should be using "PC" type seals.
Will

 

This is the only way I can post pictures. I can't use external HD's at work. Take a look at the address below and let me know what you think. I don't think I have any o-rings on the 2nd groove of the valve stem. I guess they were left off.

http://hartford.craigslist.org/pts/235744342.html

Does anyone know the o-ring comes with the Fel-pro Head gasket set (PT-9)?

Also I ordered the Upgrade Head Gasket from Fel-Pro P/N 1010. Any feed back on this gasket?

Thanks

 

Your pic shows valve guides and umbrella seals

 

Here are some more pictures. If only one picture comes up just hit refresh.

If figure if I just machine the spring seat down (not the surface the spring rests on) I can fit the valve stem seals on the valve guides.

http://hartford.craigslist.org/pts/235744342.html

Let me know if anyones done this before

 

LMAO good idea! very functional and cost-effective.

 

Now i see
Your original pic looked like there was umbrella seals, but now i realize it was the the spring seat/shim with the rubber thing on top.
I was under the impression that the guides were machined down to the spring seat, but see now that they heave been shortened and narrowed. I'm not familiar with that seal set up, but here's my $.02
Can you change your spring seat/shim to one that doesn't have such a tall shoulder and then find a seal that will fit onto the machined guide.

 

Last Night I tried to install the intake and exhaust valve stem seals. The intake valve stem seal pressed on the valve guide with a little resistance.

The exhaust valve stem seal will not grab the valve guide! The exhaust valve stem seal will move up and down with the valve stem.

Here are the dimensions I pulled...

Exhaust Valve Stem Seal
Height .450"
ID .600"
OD .712"

Exhaust Valve Guide
Height .562"
Small OD .492"
Large OD .555"

Intake Valve Stem Seal
Height .420"
Small OD .492"
Large OD .555"

Spring Seat
Height .428"
ID .560"
OD .753"

Spring
Height 1.963"
ID .772"
OD 1.233"

The valve guides have a machined step which is why there is a Large and small OD.

Are the exhaust valve stem seals suppose to press on to the valve guide? From the dimensions obtained, even if the valve guide was not machined the seal would not grab the guide.

Thank you Agent 86, I will try to see if they sell a spring seat with a short collar.

The exhaust valve stem seal mounting appears to be the final hurdle!

Let me know!

 

OK, looks to me like someone machined your guides to .500 (or tried to) but got a little carried away with the hand drill and wobbled around a bit making them smaller (I see your measurements are .492).
A set of .500 PC seals will still fit OK probally (they have quite a bit of "press" built in to them). I would just buy 16 new seals. Yes, I would use PC seals on both intake and exhaust. Just in case your local machine shop dosen't know what the hell they are doing or dosen't have any in stock (I don't know why not, they certianly should).

You can buy .500 metal clad viton PC seals here. Very good prouduct BTW.

http://www.competitionproducts.com/products.asp?dept=80

You can buy tefelon .500 or .485 PC seals here (I don't know if you could get the .485 ones on there or not but it may be worth a shot) these are normally used for Methanol burning racing engines but I have used them on street engines when I did not have anything else in my shop. I recommend you use the Viton ones first if you can.

http://www.competitionproducts.com/products.asp?dept=45

You will have to ditch the stock spring seats since they have that tall collar (or just grind it down so it won't interfere with the seal going on the valve guide). You did not list how thick the spring seat is, so I can't link you to a proper aftermarket replacement that does not have that tall collar. To be cheap you could just use a hardened valve spring shim (that is the correct thickness, fits the pocket and around the valve guide correctly) if you don't want to grind that collar off your stock valve spring seats or buy an aftermarket replacement. All engine machine shops should have them.

BTW the seals you have on there currently, I have seen them before in stock gasket sets and they look like stock replacements for Chrysler 225's and some other odd ball stuff (MG's I think). You definatly need to ditch them.

Now as far as the seals you are trying to use. You can put the intake seals on the intake and just use old style "Orings" on the exhaust. GM did this on some of their engines from the factory. However since your guides are already machined for PC seals I would get 8 more seals like the intake seals you have. Your local automotive machine shop should have them in bulk, but a helpful parts counter guy at Advance or AutoZone and a dial caliper would also quickly solve your problems.
Will

 

Thank you!

I have to replace the spring seats. One of them looked terrible by means of being really worn.

The spring seat height is .050" plus .017" for a black washer (wear protection?) total height .067"

Will spring kits come with keepers, seats and shims?

Part numbers would be great!

PS- I would like to run a LPE 219 with 1.6 rockers in the near future so if you could recommend anything to that order would be great

 

OK, first off springs do not normally come with shims even in a kit its normally just the springs retainers and locks.

Also the LPE 219 is .565 lift with 1.6 rockers so IMO you should use the Comp 918 Beehive springs if you want to stay with single springs. There are 1.250/1.260 stock style springs that will make the lift but they won't last very long and they really arn't that much cheaper. You could also go the 1.450/1.470 double spring route but you would have machine your valve spring pockets in the heads and its a bit more expensive.

Comp 26918 Beehive Springs $179.00
Comp 787-16 retainers $59.69
Comp 4693-16 spring seats $39.99
Comp 601-16 7 degree locks $6.95

This is top quality stuff that will last forever, all my prices are from Summit (I hate them but...) they have it all in stock ready to ship.

Will