monkeydude3

Well I ordered my OTC valve spring compressor of ebay yesterday and also ordered the valve spring spacer from Ford today, the two main tools required to replace the stem seals.

I will soon have a 2-3 gallon compressor borrowed from my grandpa to do these repairs. That should be enough air to compress into one cylinder at a time to hold the valves shut, right?

Anything I should know before I replace these? Engine runs smooth as silk with great compression just burns more oil than our other three cars combined. No leaks either, I fixed those.

Got the valve cover gaskets and stem seals by fel pro waiting to go in. Just need all the tools at home and I can do this

anyone have any advice let me know, thanks

1997 GT 4.6L SOHC oil hog

George

myshifter

what kind of psi will that compressor put out would be my only issue really

PRO50SC

Yeah, I would be a little leary of such a small tank.

monkeydude3

it'll put out about 90 psi. would that be enough to hold the valves shut? when the cylinder is at TDC it can't be more than the diameter of a coffee cup and maybe an inch or so deep, and this compressor does put out some good pressure when it's full

monkeydude3

ok i got the compressor at home. it's a 2 gallon that has a 120 psi max rating, this should be enough I would think

tinman

Ok. Here's how I did it back in the'bad old days'
Use some 1/4" nylon rope. Go to hardware store and get about 20' of it.
Remove plugs. Crank motor by hand until piston is about 1" down and coming up. Thru the plug hole insert as much rope as you can, then CAREFULLY turn engine until it stops. Do the seal, valve can't drop due to rope. CAREFULLY turn motor back just enogh to get rope out of cylinder.

Grimace5.0

I think that compessor will be enough to hold the valves up. Put the piston at TDC or close just in case.

monkeydude3

yup, that's where it has to be in either case. I am going to take pictures and do a write up on it for the 4.6 SOHC

monkeydude3

valve spring compressor came today! I can't believe the danged thing was 80 bux. It's about the size of a normal computer mouse! WTF ... but it is what i need and nothing can substitute for it.

This was the price EVERYWHERE and it looks to be a quality tool. Got it off ebay and it is a name brand tool... OTC i believe. Waiting for the valve spring spacer from Ford and then I can have at this project.