Gregski

Thanks Norm, note to self, re read this in 10 years and more importantly "get it" for now just trust Norm.

Gregski

The new rental valve spring compressor couldn't pull a bugger out of your nose, what a piece of crap. I guess it's perfect for removing valve springs off of brand new engines or something but not old crusty, rusty, stuck ones. The only thing this thing did was remind me of that famous scene from Total Recall where Arnold pulls the thing out of his nose:

Gregski

So it was time to take matters into my own hands. And once again my funky little aluminum vice saved my butt. I bought it at a garage sale 20 years ago for $5.00 bucks.

Couple things to explain. I use a bunch of big washers to give me flatability in order to get perpendicular with the vice to the valve since the valves are recessed a bit.

The brake line or flare nut wrench I use as my compression spacer to press down on the top of the spring yet have access to the valve stem retainer thingies.

The Tennessee chrome holds the washers in place.

Gregski

say what you will it worked...

mr_velocity

I say pretty awesome!!!

Did you give the retainers a whack before trying to compress them?

TexasAxMan

Sometimes it takes creative thinking! Good job!

Gregski

Did Mr. Velocity tell me to do so, well ... you don't frock with Mr. Velocity, lol, of course I did, and it worked bro, it worked.

Gregski

So lets take a look at the guts of the valve mechanism, what do we have there. Well the valve is held in via five things. That's it, very basic, very simple. We have the spring. We have a thick top hat washer looking thing. We have a thin bottom washer. And we have two valve stem keepers that sort of resemble a thick wedding band you would saw in half to get off your fat finger after you caught your second wife with your neighbor [but I digress].

Second pair of photos shows a paper towel with some labels on it. Sometimes it makes a difference if a part goes in right side up or not. I don't think it matters in terms of these springs, but for the heck of it I am showing you a note I made to myself to recognize the scarring or wear patterns on the springs for when I go to put them back. Some parts have a way of telling you which end is which, note the bottom has a recognizable wear pattern on it.

Gregski

What is a valve? How does it work? Well a valve is a switch really, it's an off and on switch in a way. Or it opens and closes something. The switch in your wall is electrical, and it turns electricity on and off, or you could think of it as a valve that opens and closes a circuit. An engine valve is mechanical and it opens and closes a port or a hole for either the gasoline air mixture to come in through, or the exhaust gases to go out of.

For any MITers reading this, don't bother writing me letters telling me how wrong I am, I am reaching I know that.

What surprised me the first time I tore my first engine apart was the way valves sit and work. I thought of valves as mushrooms, but they are more like upside down mushrooms. Then I thought they resemble plungers a bit, so they work like a plunger you may use in your toilet. Well that's wrong too. See they don't push against an opening to open and close it, they go through the opening and are pulled back to open and close it.

Awh heck here's some pictures to show you what I am talking about, hope this helps someone out, no engine book I ever thumbed through used mushrooms and toilets to explain the modern combustion engine so what do I have to loose.

mr_velocity

Now I know why you have shovels in the back of your suv, to bury the neighbor.


To add to your post, hopefully not too MIT, the washer on the bottom is actually a spacer. Each valve may have different sizes or even multiple spacers. This is how the installed height of the spring is set.