commodore V6 valve stem seals

[dumbdunce]

does anyone have info on tooling for changing the valve stem seals on a V6 commo motor without pulling the heads off? I intend to make a compressed air adaptor out of a spark plug to heep the valves up, but need info on potential levers to compress the springs and remove the retainers. - can it be done with normal bits and pieces or is there a 'special' tool?

cheers

DD

[big bundy]

are they different to any other motor?, u can also put the piston to TDC, and then use a valve spring compressor (small clamp type tool) to compress the spring up, then knock it with a hammer and your collets will come off, replace seal and reverse process.

[hudson44]

Easy job to do. Just remove the rocker gear and push rods. Pop the cylinder your working on at TDC and add compressed air. You will need a valve spring compressor tho. Can pick them up pretty cheap tho!

Gabe

[dumbdunce]

are they different to any other motor?,

this is, I suppose, what I am asking. never done one before. also don't have an overhead valve spring compressor, but they can't be too hard to come by. with some heads/engines there isn't enough clearance aroudn the spring to get the clamp type tool in there, and sometimes there is a lever option, sometimes a special tool is required. so that's what I'm trying to find out before I go tool shopping/borrowing

cheers

DD

[dumbdunce]

Easy job to do. Just remove the rocker gear and push rods. Pop the cylinder your working on at TDC and add compressed air. You will need a valve spring compressor tho. Can pick them up pretty cheap tho!

Gabe

cool thanks
'

[CRUSHU]

what model v6?
use only the best quality seals, genuine ones work best. and use 12 exhaust seals if it is a VN2 to VR motor.
They are exxy, but good. Cheaper ones will leak.
Holden used to have a lot of warranty issues with them when they were new, and switched to the new type, and have no more problems.

[dumbdunce]

what model v6?
use only the best quality seals, genuine ones work best. and use 12 exhaust seals if it is a VN2 to VR motor.
They are exxy, but good. Cheaper ones will leak.
Holden used to have a lot of warranty issues with them when they were new, and switched to the new type, and have no more problems.

it is the ecotec motor - same story?

[lay80n]

Yeah, the genuine ones seem to work the best. When i was working at a holden dealership, we just took off the rockers and pushrods, fed compressed air into the cylinder. The tool was like a small wind down spring compressor sorta thing ( great discription i know ) and used a magnet to grab the collets when the spring was retained. Then just normal replace stem seals as per any car. Re-fit spring, slid collets into place, release spring, so forth.
Layto....

[mkpatrol]

are they different to any other motor?,

this is, I suppose, what I am asking. never done one before. also don't have an overhead valve spring compressor, but they can't be too hard to come by. with some heads/engines there isn't enough clearance aroudn the spring to get the clamp type tool in there, and sometimes there is a lever option, sometimes a special tool is required. so that's what I'm trying to find out before I go tool shopping/borrowing

cheers

DD

Dumbdunce,

If you dont have accsess to an overhead valve compressor you can make your own up using a lever as you stated. I doubt you will be able to buy a lever type these days as there are not many Valiants & Crossflow Ford motors left .

I dont have a picture but I will describe the lever we used to have & how we used it.

Basically it was about 4" long & about 1/4: thick with two bends & a u shape cut into one end. The end with the U shape pushed down onto the valve spring retainer so you could remove the colletts. About 1.5" from that there was a bend, then a hole, then another bend. The lever looked like a very open U from side on.

All you did was bolt it to the rocker post, find TDC, add compressed air & lever the valve spring down using a shifting spanner. Pretty easy really.

One tip, whack the top of all the valve spring retainers with a hammer to break the seal around the colletts otherwise you will just open the valve as you lever. Also most engines run pretty close tolerences these days & you may not need compressed air, just wind the piston up to TDC & this will usually hold the valve up enough for you. Unless you force the valve into the piston somehow you will not do any damage. I used to find using compressed air a pain in the arse as there was a chance the piston would move while it was under pressure & when it did it would take the valve with it (one of my apprentices did this but we managed to get the valve back up the guide with a bit of f****** around).

I hope this helps.

P.S you better run this advice by Bogged to see if it is correct as he knows everything

[mkpatrol]

http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdengi13.html

Here u go Dumbdunce, the top one is the style you are after. It is different to the one we used to have but the principle is the same.

[CRUSHU]

what model v6?
use only the best quality seals, genuine ones work best. and use 12 exhaust seals if it is a VN2 to VR motor.
They are exxy, but good. Cheaper ones will leak.
Holden used to have a lot of warranty issues with them when they were new, and switched to the new type, and have no more problems.

it is the ecotec motor - same story?

ok, you should use 6 intakes and 6 exhausts on the ecotec motors, but you still need the good genuine ones.

[Tas_Dean]

I intend to make a compressed air adaptor out of a spark plug to heep the valves up
DD

Why do you want to bastardise a spark plug that is going to be under around 100PSI, when you can buy the proper machined fitting for about $8 from decent auto parts stores? If a piece lets go at this pressure, you could be badly injured (let alone the PITA of the valve dropping on you and then needing to remove the head to get the valve back in). Alternatively, If you have a compression tester, you may be able to get an adaptor to use the screw in fitting fitting from this.

With regards to the spring compressor, they also are commonly available, and you can get cheapish ones (fine for occasional use) for around $40.

If you haven't got access to a compressor, you can feed a soft rope into the cylinder through the sparkplug hole while the piston is down, then as you wind the piston back up the rope will fill the chamber and hold the valves up. Any fibres that are left behind in the bore will burn away anyway. This is actually a very good method in a lot of cases.

Cheers, Dean

[Frankenyota]

used the rope method , worked well.
Was a bit worried about dropping a valve if the guides were flogged out.

[high n mighty]

I have the hose here and will be down sydney tomorrow until thursday.

I have put it in my work bag for if you need to borrow it.

Craig, 0414254643.

I will be working in smithfield and staying at the Crowne on McReady near guildford

Won't matter if you can't get it back to me this week either