help on replacing valve springs

[VN_Luke]

magnet works a treat

specially those 'wand' style extendable ones.

you just poke the magnet at the top of the half circle thing, then it goes ZOOOOM right upwards and effortlessly onto the magnet (and doesn't go flying anywhere) ... of course you dont' want them to be wedged between the top of the valve and that plate... you want the top of the valve up, and the retainery plate and half circle jiggies down... then magnet action

 

[Morton]

To be completely honest, I don't know why so many people have issues losing their valves in the cylinders

The last time I removed valve springs from a set of heads, the valve stems had such a distinct burr on them, they wouldn't go through the heads when I TRIED to remove them I ended up attacking the valve stems with a die grinder just to try and drop them through the heads. Surely all old V6 motors must be getting to this point?

 

[stocky]

to stop valves dropping into my cylinders, i threaded some rope in through the spark plug hole until it filled it. valve wouldnt drop at all

 

[383 hatch]

Generally, you give the retainer a bit of a tap with a hammer first to free it from the collets! Then it's just a matter of compressing the spring and pulling the collets out...

 

[centy]

Yes a tap is a must as with time oil and heat they can stick a bit to the valve stem.

 

[greenfoam]

Seen it done with a nut in the rocker stem and a ball joint fork pushing the spring down

 

[PaRaDoX]

Generally, you give the retainer a bit of a tap with a hammer first to free it from the collets! Then it's just a matter of compressing the spring and pulling the collets out...

this is the MOST important part of removing them.

you gently but firmly tap it until you see the collets/retainer start to rotate

i used a allen key/screw driver in the spark plug socket to prevent the valves from falling in and i removed my brake booster. was fairly easy to do on the car as the v8's arnt as wide as the v6's (well i dont think so anyway)
make sure u do the valve stem seals, even tho its a stupid little ring on the v8's but most of them are gone... the v8's rely on the valve guides not being worn

when replacing valve springs be careful in your spring choice, i had to purchase collets to give me 50thou more to prevent spring bind, if you stuff it up you can bash the lobes on your cam,

apparently holden went spastic on the v8's so the only way to be sure is to measure it with a inside micrometer, i think they'res 43mm 44mm or 45mm

this is something to keep in mind..