Valve Seals

When installing new valve seals do you guys heat
them up in hot water then press them on.. I am
trying to fix my W-5s so they are usable heads..
I leak checked them and look to be OK.. I think
my issue was bad inner face between the intake
and heads
thanks

I haven't, I just put a dab of oil and put them on.

I have had trouble with valve stem seals twice over the last few years. First was in 2013 when I got my Edelbrock RPM heads back from shady dell. The engine was smoking and I couldn't figure out why. I milled the intake, i leaked it down, i had the guides checked, everything looked OK but there was oil puddling on the intake valve at shutdown and the headers were wet with oil. On one of my tear downs I noticed that Ryan used a different style seal than he had used when he had worked on the heads before, very similar but not the same. I talked to Ryan and he was out of the others and that these should be working fine. I changed them anyways and my problem was gone, I did 3 more drag weeks on those heads and maybe burned 2 quarts of oil between the three.

Fast forward to 2015 when my dad and I built a W2 stroker for drag week. We ran the motor 42 miles on a test drive and it was smoking just like the RPM heads. We used all comp stuff for springs, seals, retainers etc. The comp seals were the same style I had problems with on the RPM heads. But I used comps cutter for the guide, and I felt they installed OK so we used them. When we pulled the 416 a week before drag week to put the 360 back in the headers were wet with oil. Summer of 2016 comes and I change the valve stem seals on the W2 motor and it put it back in and there was no smoke.



The seals in the left of that picture above were the ones I had trouble with, I know lots of people use them but they didn't work for me. The one second from the left is what has worked great. I would recommend using that kind if at all possible.

Thanks for the feed back.. I bought seals
like the ones in the middle.. did you just
push them over the valve stems.. I worry about
where the locks are on the stems.. My old set
were the white ones( I believe they are a bit
loose.. I measured the ID and they looked like
the ID had no interference on the fit).. these
W-5s have been a PITA since I bought them ...
I will see this time.. I just wanted to run
them mainly due to the weight reduction.. 40#
on the front end is a lot

I know about the weight deal, I have W2 heads on an R1 block, it took four full turns on the torsion bars to get it to sit like the aluminum headed stock block 360.

I had one of those clear sleeves that slides over the top of the valve stem to help the seal slide over the grooves.

Where did you get that clear sleeve.. did you have to
buy it? I'd like to use one of those
thanks

Mr.P, If you find out where to buy those sleeve's
can you post it?
Awhile back I was looking to buy them and
could not find them.
Dug through some old gaskets set's and found
them in a pack of umbrella seals.

Mike

I think that is where mine came from as well.

I will let you know.. I see that Fel- Pro
has them in their kits... I am looking to
see if they sell them

The installation sleeves are included in all the seal kits I've bought for many years, I have a bunch of unused ones if you can't find them any closer, let me know via PM if you need some and the valve stem size

Those clear sleeves came with all the seals I have bought in the last 10 years.

I should know tomorrow or I'll send you a PM..
thanks Cab

I havent gotten any response from the seal
companies yet on those installing sleeves..
with all the thousands of dollars that I have
spent on tools and equipment you would think
I would have something that would work.. but
noooo... a couple of cheapo plastic sleeves
and I cant even get a e-mail or phone call..
the problem is they dont even have a P/N on
them so I cant even order them... a $.02 item
and I cant find them.. the rest of the guys
say they come with the seals.. not mine.. I
dont want to just push them over the valve stem
in fear of cutting them.. I just cant believe
this... a lousy $.02 part is gonna hold me up
OK... RANT off.. thanks for listening(if you did)

Here you go Mike

3/8"
https://www.alexsparts.com/valve-seal-protector-sleeves-3-8-applications-pack-of-two/

5/16"
https://www.alexsparts.com/valve-seal-protector-sleeves-5-16-8mm-applications-pack-of-two/

I tried to be all technical with the name and couldn't find anything in google. So I just typed it in as I would describe and found them.

I googled "sleeve to protect the valve seal when they slide over the grooves 3/8" and it worked lol.

Looks like their out of stock on the 3/8" ones.

Thanks but I use 11/32 valves.. no problem I
found what I need... plus a buddy is gonna give
me a few.. he has a automotive machine shop.. he
said he has a lot of them.. he also said that
they normally come with a couple with each order
but I sure didnt get any.. I called Summit and
she didnt know what I was talking about.. I
finally gave up.. but thanks for the help

You dont need the sleeve things. I never use them. Simply make sure the stem area is lubricated well ( I use Gibbs grease), and put your index finger on top of the seal opening. When you start to push the valve thru, your finger will support the seal, and the valve will nicely just slip thru.You will have no problems doing it that way. The seals wont tear or get damaged or anything, You will quickly get a feel for what I am saying after a couple.

Thanks for the help.. I will try it.. I was
reluctant to try it being that these heads have
been a major PITA from day one.. I have tried
to get them on 3 different times(maybe 4) and
they smoked each time.. I thought I did everything
correctly but I guess I didnt

The sleeves are not a must-have, as mentioned above. If you're not comfortable installing the seals over the lock grooves directly, cut a small piece of a sandwich baggie to drape over the stem & groove locks, and put some oil on the "cover" to let the seal slide right over.

If you need to remove them after installation and don't want to risk tearing the seal lip, wrap the lock groove with Scotch tape and gently twist the seal over the taped area while pulling the seal up the stem. That's a derivation of an old trick to keep from tearing up the front suspension ("fork") seals on dirt bikes if you need to disassemble them for internal tuning changes or maintenance.

Thanks.. I'm just being super cautious I guess
when I put this thing back together AGAIN..
its had problem the past 3 or 4 times.. I'm
doing everything by the proper method.. at
least I believe.. I've done this stuff a ton
of times but when its mine it wants to fail