ValveSpring replacement

[RapidRide2]

I have a relatively stock high12 low 13 sec gn with about 120,00 miles on it. I was wanting to replace the valve springs. I hear people talking about lt-1 springs. What and where is the best place to get a good replacement spring for a stock cammed engine Thanks

 

[UNGN]

Comp cam's 979's using the factory cups or 980's using the dampers that come with but no cups.

Summit has both in stock, though they may not be listed in their catalog.

I think the price for 12 springs is the about the same for 16 so you can say its for a v8 and get four springs almost free.

Cost is around $40 total, I think. These are very good stock replacement springs and you will see a difference on your timeslips.

 

[jetmech]

Alot of people tell me the kirbans springs are great and you can get the tool from them at a package deal for 68 i think. those will be the ones i put on and im at 120k and 13.07 too.

 

[Steve Wood]

I am not sure what Dennis is selling now but I think he used to be selling chevy springs that were about 105#.....you might want to try to find out before buying as that, I think, is much too strong.

 

[TurboMike]

Go with what has been tried and tested...CC 979 or 980

 

[Red Regal T]

I used the ones from Poston with no problem. I installed the springs about 45,000 miles ago and will be re-doing them soon.

 

[Buick T]

The Kirbans tool is nice to have, works great. But I would prefer to know what the springs are rated at and for what application. In reading on all the sites showed too much concern for the unknowns and lt1 springs have the possibility of wiping out a cam on 80k plus non-opened stock motors. The 980 with the damper and no cup was the general prefered spring to use on the older higher mile motors. Do your own search and get your thoughts from what ya read. I tried the rope trick because I don't have a compressor and I found it to work great and gave me better piece of mind knowing I wasn't going to drop a valve.

 

[Red Regal T]

Originally posted by Buick T
The Kirbans tool is nice to have, works great. But I would prefer to know what the springs are rated at and for what application. In reading on all the sites showed too much concern for the unknowns and lt1 springs have the possibility of wiping out a cam on 80k plus non-opened stock motors. The 980 with the damper and no cup was the general prefered spring to use on the older higher mile motors. Do your own search and get your thoughts from what ya read. I tried the rope trick because I don't have a compressor and I found it to work great and gave me better piece of mind knowing I wasn't going to drop a valve.

This is the reason I purchased my springs from Poston. Poston sells ONLY Buick products and has been doing so for the past 20 years at least. Can't get mixed up with some chevy springs on the shelf. Comp Cams, however, could care less is they sold some (poor, misguided) Buick guy the wrong springs.

 

[RapidRide2]

thanks to all on the valvespring tech i will probably try the 979/980's

 

[ThikStik]

Spring Question

I too am going to re-spring a 120,000 motor and was wandering how to deal with the shields which are covering the stock springs. Should they be reused when purchasing stock replacement springs? How can a spring compressor tool work when these things cover the valve so much? Is the Kirbans tool the only real choice for the passenger side which is so tight? Thanks.

 

[UNGN]

Those shields are referred to as the "cups". They provide a slightly higher spring pressure by squeezing the spring and their added thickness. when using 979 springs, reuse the cups. 980 springs have an internal damper sping. If you use it, don't re-use the cup as the addition of both would go out of spec.

The spring compressor tool still works fine with the cups as you really only need to compress the spings a little more than a 1/4 inch to get the keepers in.

I use a modified $7 chevy L bracket tool from the auto parts store. I drilled one hole in it off to the side of the existing hole. I use the rocker shaft hold down bolts as pivot points. It seems to work fine. With 120K mile stockers, getting the originals out should be no big deal. They should be very weak. When putting the new springs in, do #6 first and the rest will seem easy.

 

[ThikStik]

Spring forth

Thanks UNGN,
The idea about drilling a regular compressor tool was the kind of enginuity which won the big one! And to think, I was going to drill out a 1/4 " bar and install it between two rocker shaft mounting points and use that as a lever for a old style compressor tool! Your method sounds great.
Anyway, another ques. I got the ATR #rp569 stock 80-85 lb spngs. by Crower. they do have a damper so should I not reuse the cups? Their tech who had t ask "someone in the back" said to reuse the cups.
Hey , is that an AMX I see on your post thing? Nice , very Nice.
Gotta love a Kelvinater made in Cheesehead country!
Thanks

 

[UNGN]

Welcome to the board, rick. Good eye on the AMX. It's the Hurst Super Stock we sold last summer. It was the most patriotic Avatar I could find.

With your spring you can probably take out the damper and reuse the cups or use them as is and they would work fine.

I found I only needed to use the offset hole to get the first spring of the pair off. Once one spring is out of the way, you can use the factory chevy hole. I also have used old flattened shock absorber upper bushings to use as a pivot point to reduce metal to metal contact between the tool and the rocker shaft bolt head (If you have extra rocker shaft bolts, don't worry yoo much about it)