Halfway through with valve spring change

[opzWE4]

Well, I did the easy side first,and now I'm taking a break. So far so good. I don't know how many retainers I've lost, but it's a few, anyway I bought a new box of them. I'm using the rope method to hold the valves up and I have to say it's working pretty well so far. I've got my compressor on loan and didn't want to wait until I get it back. I started out with 1/2" yellow rope and it worked fine for the first cylinder, but after that it didn't want to go in the spark plug holes anymore. So I ended up taking one strand of rope off of it (has three stands) and that size seems to be just about perfect. Feeds in good, and holds the valves. I've had to readjust once, but after that no problem. The Kirbans valve spring tool works great also. Anyway, I know a few people on here are getting ready to do valve springs this way, and I just wanted to let everyone know how it's going.

 

[timothydog]

Keep us posted man!
Clean (or paint) those valve covers too while they are off. It's the perfect time to spiff the engine up a little.

I did mine 2 weeks ago. Droped about 5 retainers but didn't lose any thankfully!

Are you doing your valve seals too??
It's a good time.

 

[opzWE4]

Well, so far the retainers that I've dropped have been the old ones, and well, they dissappeared. My valve covers are Buick Motorsports, so they are already pretty spiffy.
Unfortunately, I ran into other things that I had to go do, so I'll finish the project tomarrow. Wish me luck.