I'm going to redo my valve seals, waht spring compressor should I buy, thanks Jim.

 

Due to the SBC having rocker studs, any decent lever type should work easily and well. Any place that carries quality automotive tools should have, or be able to get you one.

 

How do you do the ROPE TRICK to keep the valves from falling into the cylinder?

 

Personally, I don't like the rope trick.

 

I had a problem with the rope trick, once. The rope tied itself into a knot inside the cylinder and I played hell getting it out. To minimize the chances of that happening, start with the piston close to TDC. That keeps the amount of rope necessary to fill the cylinder down. Feed a nylon rope in through the spark plug hole until no more rope goes in easily. Then turn the crank, by hand to run the piston further up in the bore to lightly compress the rope. Now the valves are secure and can't drop into the cylinder. When you have finished what you are doing, seals, springs, etc, turn the crank back the other way to release the pressure on the rope and pull it out if the plug hole. Then move on to the next cylinder.

RACE ON!!!

 

Remove the spark plug. Bring the piston to TDC. Stuff as much soft rope as you can into the plug hole. Works good. Before you start, take a rubber hammer and wack the hell out of all the valve retainers. It helps break the locks loose.

 

In the tech section a vertical type (screw) compressor is recommended. Something about no room for the lever type at the rear valves.
I bought mine from Sears. It was manufactured by KD. I did learn a couple tricks. The first is that you should catch the furthest rung/spiral in the spring that you can. One way to do that is to hold the legs against the spring and turn the entire unit clockwise, letting the legs of the tool follow the spiral down and away. I replaced springs, so I loaded and unloaded it several times. All in all, using this tool was one of the easiest parts of the job.

 

Hi, couple related questions on this topic.

question do you take all the plugs out first before starting.

question if changing the cam too...would you leave the old cam
and do the valves first and then replace the cam.

question what is the process for verifying the spring height...
any links to the process for checking height and pressure.

thanks

 

that wack saves a lot of work

 

Use an air compressor to keep the valves up while you do the work. I use my compression tester hose plugged into my air compressor with the shrader valve removed with about 110 psi. It does the trick.
John

 

85 - Just finished mine last month. You should replace the springs while you are at it. I have a good set of instructions another member sent me when I needed some help. PM if you want it.

 

Crane Cams makes an awesome one.

 

I bought the lever type and found it was just too difficult to use in the carmped space so went to the screw type that grips the bottom coils of the spring while pressing on the retainer.

Before using the compressor I too gave the valve tip a little smack to loosen the keepers. To aid in removing the keepers a magnetic wand is really handy. It's a good idea to stuff rags into the oil return holes and across the push rod slots to keep an errant keeper from finding its way into the engine.

It's a good idea to install new forged keepers to avoid a dropped valve.


I placed a screwdriver in the spark plug hole as I slowly turned the crank. When the handle moved I inserted the nylon rope and turned the crank till it was tight.

I pulled all the spark plugs and removed the serp belt as well as the crank pulley for easier access to the bolt. To make manual turning of the crank a lot easier I screwed the bolts from a damper puller set into the three holes and used a flat bar as a lever to rotate the crank shaft.

The springs come with data on force at a typical installed height as well as the spring rate, i.e. force/inch. This is enough data to allow you to set the desired seat force by setting the needed installed height. To measure installed height I used a set of verniers from Sears. Comp Cams sells a nice variety shim pack that's made for this job.

 

I want to add a complaint about the crankshaft bolt, at least on my 86E. The head is too small and the power steering lines create a challenge to find a socket, ratchet combination that fits.

I had to replace my balancer because it was moving toward the engine and bought a replacement bolt. I believe that it is 5/8ths. (Spectre at Autozone I think) Anyway, the head was deeper and that was helpful. In the end, I had to use a spark plug socket and an old Craftsman 3/8 ratchet. I taped the handle into a pipe extension, then everything worked OK -- not well, but OK. If you're accustomed to bolts in the 24 MM size, it is hard to believe that Chevy used a 5/8ths.

I would be interested in hearing a better solution than mine in case I have to do this again one day. I do recommend replacing the bolt to make things a bit easier.