After having had a couple of hydraulic valve lifters collapse in our 512 ci, six pack, E Body due to internal failures of oil control discs for yet not certain reasons, I am doing an analysis of my entire valve train. CC hydraulic roller, Eddy heads, Scorpion lifters(soon to be Crower or Morel/Howard), Harland Sharp 1.5 rockers, 1.88 spring height CC beehives, originally at 155 pounds at seat(measured with an on car LSM 100 SCM pressure tester), but now at 120 to 130 pounds,,,highly suspect as again heads on engine measuring tool.
I have posted entire lengthy postmortem and received much very helpful information from Dwayne Porter among others on the Question and Answer section of our forum. Thank you to all who pitched in,,,this whole area is far above my pay grade but It has been a real pleasure to have learned as much as I have in an area where even angels might fear to tread.
I plan to obtain an LSM sm-600 bench pressure tester and a SC-320 bench pressure tester so as I can more accurately determine spring tensions and be able to calibrate and determine accuracy of the head on engine tool. With the idea to shim if indicated valve springs back to original recommended pressures.
http://www.lsmproducts.com/lsm_products I already have a couple of their tools. Appear of very high made in USA quality.
My question(s) is/are this.
There are several ways to remove valve springs from the engine while heads are on and not have a valve fall into a cylinder,,,of course a complete disaster,,,particularly if one had to pull the engine to remove a head with headers and all as a contributing factor.
*. Use air pressure. Downsides. Cannot get fitting and its air hose on 2 or 3 of engine's cylinders. If air pressure fails, valve could drop into cylinder. Air pressure wants to push piston down turning engine over,,,yes if transmission(4 speed,,,do not know what an automatic would do) is in gear, no problem except have to remember to do after each cylinder is completed.
Where should piston be for this,,,top center to catch valve if air pressure should fail?
Any other thoughts on this method.
*. I do have 1/2 inch rope. Where should piston be for this method to ensure valve cannot fall into cylinder? How much rope in cylinder? Downsides? Pro/cons?
*. Bring each piston to TDC to hold valve in place. Can I still get spring, retainer and keeper back on. How to do this if valve has slipped down a bit. If both lifters, exhaust and intake are on cam heel,,,will I be at TDC or close enough for a margin of safety and still allow remount of spring and keepers.
*. Any other favorite methods.
I am aware that shimming of springs to regain pressure specs will change install spring height by the amount of the shim(s). Is there any downsides to this beyond the specter of coil bind(which I will monitor for on bench pressure tester)? Is this practice acceptable, these beehives have only some 3 or 4 thousand fairly easy miles on them.
Although I am fairly well informed in automobiles and mechanics in general, this is an area where I plead complete rookie status. Hopefully I can get some guidance from some of the expertise that I have observed on this particular section of our forum. I suspect that there are others too who might and will.
Any further thoughts that I had not considered, please chime in.
A couple of photos of autopsies of collapsed lifters below. The little spring in the photo, I found just pinched between the valve spring seat and the edge of the aluminum head itself. I fished it out with a magnet. I suspect it belongs to a hydraulic valve lifter. How it got there or where it came from I have no idea. I cannot disassemble these hydraulic rollers because the "link bar" has a rivet that blocks the inner cylinder removal from the lifter housing itself. I can only remove the pushrod seat and the failed oil control disc.
Any thoughts on what this might be and how it got there!
