Finally seen the "valve spring swap trick"

[badmix]

My buddy is souping up a '79 lincoln continental 2door. It has a 400cid. He is putting in a new cam, lifters, push rods and valve springs. He is also putting an edlebrook intake and my old street avenger 670 on it. Eventually he is doing gears, going from 2:73 to 4:10s or 3:90s.

He used the compressed air in the cylnder to change the valve springs without removing the head. I was very leary of this approach it is one of those it either works 100% or not at all, seems there is no middle ground, but every cylinder held the air, none leaked past any of the valves, so I thought that was cool trick, saved alot of time from having to remove the heads. Just thought id share.

 

[ragedracer]

Another way to do it is with rope. I had a broken exhaust valve spring, and couldn't get compressed air to keep it closed. I stuffed a crap load of small rope (think clothesline diameter) into the cylinder through the plug hole, and hand cranked to motor till the piston was as high as possible. The rope pushes against the valves and holds them up when you pull the spring off. Worked like a charm.

 

[muddermilitia]

How about some pics of the car? I love big old land barges

 

[badmix]

Here is a couple pics. Once he gets it on the road, we'll get some nice pics. When it was 100% stock he ran it down the 1/8th drags just as a goof. it got alot of attention, needlesstosay, it has sucky times. So we plan to revisit the strip and see how it improved. This car is in really good all org. shape. It has 70k on it. It wouldnt take much to get it really prestine. This was a hand me down car from my buddies grandmother.

 

[four_by_ken]

Ass shots are nice... but how about the rest!!!!

 

[four_by_ken]

Another way to do it is with rope. I had a broken exhaust valve spring, and couldn't get compressed air to keep it closed. I stuffed a crap load of small rope (think clothesline diameter) into the cylinder through the plug hole, and hand cranked to motor till the piston was as high as possible. The rope pushes against the valves and holds them up when you pull the spring off. Worked like a charm.

Say what?

 

[tRustyK5]

What was confusing about that? Fill the cylinder with small diameter rope through the spark plug hole. Rotate the engine so the piston pushes the rope right up against the underside of the valves. Compress offending valve spring, remove keepers. Valve cannot drop into cylinder because of the rope.

Install new spring, rotate the engine back a bit and pull the rope out of the cylinder.

Rene

 

[Stomis]

Yep it works. Everyone on the Monte Carlo forums told me to do that rather than the air trick since i dont have a compressor.

 

[four_by_ken]

What was confusing about that? Fill the cylinder with small diameter rope through the spark plug hole. Rotate the engine so the piston pushes the rope right up against the underside of the valves. Compress offending valve spring, remove keepers. Valve cannot drop into cylinder because of the rope.

Install new spring, rotate the engine back a bit and pull the rope out of the cylinder.

Rene

I'm not an engine guy... but my first thought was a little surprised about recommending to stick rope into the cylinder.

 

[tRustyK5]

Yeah, it sounds stupid doesn't it? It is about as low tech as it gets, but sometimes dirt simple is the best way! Not having to remove the heads is a pretty big deal time and money wise...

Rene