goofed up valve spring change

[gnturbo]

Well fellas I goofed up,I got all educated up on doing my valve springs ,bought the kirban springs and tools and tore into the passenger side ,I hooked up my compression testor hooked up the hose with 130 psi on the line holding fine.I broke the 90Degree end of the bar that came with kirban rocker arm on the first valve and got past that by using the 45 degree end.All was looking great ,fished my first set of keepers with my new magnet then the valve slowly drifted outta sight.it was like a bad dream,it drifted right into the head.I unhooked everything and realized I did not take the schrader valve outta the compression testor.I did not have any rope so you know the rest.Luckily it was on the exhaust valve at the front of the motor.I think I can pull the header and maybe fish in there and push the valve back up through the exhaust port.Think it will work?since I gotta pull all this stuff off I guess I might as well do the timing chain and oil pump,since I am that far I guess I might as well pull the pan and do the front and rear main seals...hell I might as well pull the motor and freshen the whole thing up....if I would have only taken the schrader valve out. honey I need more money....

 

[scottyb]

Jim,

That sucks, but at least nothing's broken.

You're welcome to come over tomorrow and get some experience on my timing chain. I picked up all the the parts today and ready to fly. It's an unplanned job.

Scott

 

[gnturbo]

better yet you can come over and help me finish the mess I have over here,Then we can do your timing chain...just kidding.I hope all I have to do is drop the passenger side exhaust and push the valve back up in place.I will call you tommorrow
Jim

 

[norbs]

dont feel so bad, i did something similar, forgot to turn on the compressor, came back after a phone call, valve was gone! flush with the guide. Could not pull it up. PUlled the head in the car took about 8 hours with studs! SHould have pulled the motor! be quicker. OH btw if you pull the headagskets off it will never be as good as factory seal ever again!

 

[GN ERGY]

Can you see the end of the valve and maybe get it with a magnet or is it out of sight.
I'll cross my fingers for you.
Tarey D.

 

[Race Jace]

you can do this,

We did this once, we used some surgical souchers and a wire hook, went though the exhaust port and had someone under the car turning over the engine little by little allowing the piston to "hold" the valve in place as we fed it back into the guide bore. It was not as hard as it seems. Feel lucky, we did ours on #6 cylinder

 

[49-blues]

Might as well just pull the motor- put a roller cam and a girdle in it- you ll be doing that someday anyway, so why put it off?

 

[John Larkin]

Before I pulled all that stuff off, I'd try the magnet thing. Those telescoping ones that look like an antenna; parts stores usually have small ones with a 1/4" tip. "Should" fit down the valve guide and might pull it back up that way.

 

[gnturbo]

I will be trying that this morning,I wonder if that does not work if fishing up throught the exhaust port would be the next thing to do?

 

[CTX-SLPR]

Howdy,

If the magnet doesn't work and the valve is still in the guide, do what Jace said, for more control I'd get some one on the starter with either a screwdriver or a remote start button to really slowly bump the piston up the bore. However if you are on the way down the bore not up with the piston, all bets are off for that method.

Just my $.01 (advice ain't worth anymore than that),

 

[turbosam6]

DO NOT do what ctx sleeper just said. The motor will turn over faster than you can catch it, and smash the crap out of the valve and piston. Turn it over with a wrench.

 

[gnturbo]

well fellas I lucked out,I stuck a small screwdriver through the plug hole and the valve moved so I gently fished around till the valve rose back up throught the hole,I grabbed it and put air back to the cylinder and it held up fine tillI got the valve spring all back on.scared me silly for a while but all is well.As far as the magnet thing goes I do not know what "MY" valves are made of but none of my magnets even try to stick to it.There is no attraction by the magnet to the end of the valve what so ever.Almost like they are some type of alloy or something that magnets don't stick to,any ideas what stock valves are made of .I do not believe this motor has been rebuilt but I could be wrong?

 

[83ttypecooled]

dropped valve

Ah yes, the old dropped valve problem... Try a good , and I mean monopole, magnet. If that doesn't work,your idea of fishing through the exhaust port could work. Interesting that one of our friends thinks head gasket seal will never be the same after you break it;I disagree. Hopefully, you can resolve this trouble without resorting to R&R of the head, but if it comes to that, there are a lot of sealing techniques available today that weren't a few years ago. Good luck!
Dale

 

[norbs]

Theres something GM does that makes the original seal better, I don't know what, it could be even torqing since i bet they are all torqued at once! If you use the shim steel gaskets, i would think it would be better, but then you might as well do both sides, and pull the motor

 

[83ttypecooled]

dropped valve

I read your last message, think there must be a stainless steel content in the valve. Stainless is very low magnetic quality. Glad you got it fixed, needless to say it will not happen again. By the way, on all the others, try giving each a sharp rap on the retainer before removal; this breaks the grip the keepers have.
Good luck with your project!
Dale

 

[1badTTA]

As soon as I started reading this, I knew exactly what happened. When I did mine, I did the same thing by not removing the schrader valve but luckily as I tried to do the first valve I noticed that there was no pressure in the cylinder.

As for the magnet, it won't stick to stainless steel very well depending on the heat treat and alloy. Annealed=mild magnetic properties, full hard=nearly no magnetic properties at all. And being an exhaust valve, I would not be a bit surprised that it is stainless on any engine.

 

[gnturbo]

once I got the hang of it all the rest of the springs went very quick ,even the rear by the heater box.By the way ALL the exhaust valves ,would not allow a magnet to stick at all,the intake valves ,the magnet stuck right to.By the way I broke the kirban pry bar on the very first valve spring,The rocker that they sent worked great.Thanks for the help fellas

 

[BJM]

Just curious why you didn't have the piston at TDC when you did the valve springs. I just did the same job and I checked how far my valve could drop and it only went down about 3/8".

My fright came when I dropped a push rod into the engine. It stopped part way in and I was able to grab it, Yikes!

 

[ThikStik]

I was going to suggest feeding rope into the plug hole and walking the piston up which would then push valve back up. Alls well that ends well.

 

[gnturbo]

all done,After my mishap on the first two springs it got better,AFter #3 cylinder it was really fast going,The drivers side took maybe 20 minutes.threw the valve covers on and fixed everything and was up and cruising last night.Seems a little crisper and tight feeling,we will see at the track.I have been stuck at 8.3 1/8ths and 13 flat 1/4 miles so hopefully the hooker exhaust,shift kit and valve springs will get me a 12.9,we will see.
jim