dieselbill

Well after owning my 2002 Z06 for 11 months and learning about the dreaded valve spring issue and trunnion bearing failure I decided not to gamble any more. I ordered new springs, keepers, retainers, seats and seal kit along with Comp cams trunnion upgrade kit from Jegs. Started saturday morning and had the springs in the motor in 3 1/2 hours. Spent the afternoon punching out the old trunnions and installing the upgraded ones in the rockers. Finished the reassembly today and fired it up. Started right up, no codes and after 10 - 15 seconds of valve lash clatter it settled right down and smoothed out and sounds so good I didn't want to turn it off. I swear pulling the plug wires and driver side rear plug was the hardest part of the whole job. Only got cut in 4 places. A new record for me
I don't think I would have tackled it if not for all the posts on here that guided me through the whole thing and the video on trunnion replacement was really great. Thanks to everyone for all the great writeups.

RoadReady

Congrats. I would not have the nerve to try that alone!

dieselbill

First time I ever did valve springs on an engine with out the heads off. Kinda puckered up for the first few then I got more comfy about the compressed air holding the valves from dropping and just got into the job and kinda enjoyed it.

Z06ster

I had my 2002 Z06 for 5 years and didn't encounter the valve spring problem...BUT... after seeing your post, I'm sure glad that I had my cam, valve springs, and related hardware upgraded by a local performance shop as part of an upgrade project.

dieselbill

Yes I know. Been told not to worry about it. So rare it won't happen to me. My last toy was a 78 Firebird Formula that I put in Bored 0.030" over small block 406 ci with solid roller cam and all the good stuff. Ran like a bat out of hell till it broke a roller lifter cross link and did a number on the cam. crank and block. Just paranoid about a known defect that might or might not happen, but now it's a non issue and I feel like my engine is pretty much bullit proof. At least till I get the supercharger. LOL

Vetteman Jack

Congrats on getting the job done yourself.

76 VETTE

Thats great!

rnelson11

I'm planning on doing this very some. What did you use to compress the valves? Did you buy the special $ 130.00 one or something else?

Zap City

Good job. DYI feels great.

dieselbill

I bought the Crane Cams double spring compressor. Kind of pricey but what isn't these days? It worked very well.