A couple months ago I swapped out my lifters, springs, retainers, pushrods and seals in an attempt to stabilize the valve train and get rid of the Comp Cams rollers that would spread at the bottom after only about 40 passes.

With some encouragement from friends I went with Crower EnduraMax lifters. They don't make this lifter for the Mopar with the raised pushrod seat, so I had them build me a set from Chevy bodies with the Mopar tie bars. Due to a little different design on the oil band they send a lot more oil to the top end.

In order to make the new triple Pac Springs work I also had to install the Comp Cams seals that don't have the Viton around the valve guide, only at the top around the valve stem, part #518-16. I don't think they are doing their job.

So now my fresh 572 B-1 engine smokes like a pig due to oil running down the valve guides. Any suggestions on a better valve guide seal?

I think my other option might be special order pushrods with smaller oil holes but that's going to big a lot of trial and error. I'm tired of throwing money at it with no results.

Greg at Superformance has some good ones...

I have always used these from Goodson, on my engine builds
https://www.goodson.com/5611-Polymer-Valve-Stem-Oil-Seals/

I looked at the 5711 seal on Goodson's website. Is the body that presses over the valve guide, on the Goodson seal, metal or polymer like the upper part?

The seals I bought from Comp Cams have an all metal lower body with no rubber inside. I suspect oil is actually leaking in between the seal body and valve guide.

The seals you have are pretty standard fare for triple springs.

The options I see are, cut down the guide boss so you can use a seal that has the rubber inside the jacket, but will still have an OD small enough to fit inside the triple springs.

Get another set of what you're using now and put a little silicone on the OD of the guide before installing them.

Come up with better oil control to the top end.
A .020 hole in each pushrod will allow for more than enough oil to get up top.
Even .015 is plenty big.

Having specialized in automotive oil seals for nearly 3 decades allow me to lead you down the path of undisputed truth......

The seals you have on there are just fine for your application and what I would recommend to you and would also use on my own engine if I were running triple springs.

I suspect an installation error on the seals. This design seal with the all metal body and sealing element at the top only has 2 areas of sealing off oil to the guide.

1) interference on the valve stem and 2) it also seals along the top edge of the valve guide.

Excess oil down the valve guide can be contributed to the following....

Lack of clearance between the retainer and valve seal at max lift [should be .060" - .080" minimum]

Valve guide is not long enough for the seals skirt length. This condition will not allow the valve seal to fully seat down on the guide. Sometimes they are not driven on enough and other times it may be a spring locator that is interfering with proper installation.

Seals could have been driven on crooked and are now loose on the guide allowing oil to migrate up the guide O.D. and under the seal. If the seals are loose they can actually act as a pump and shove oil down the guide every time the valve opens similar to not enough retainer to seal clearance.

Are you having this problem on all 8 cylinders? Is it the intake, exhaust or a combination of both?

You have some investigating to do but either way do not use Teflon seals like the link to Goodson. If you need seals they are listed in our catalog...... part #732FP (.341" x .530")

I had the same problem with the comp seals. I used a cutter from comp on the guides for the .530 seals and the seals did not fit tight, they could easily be removed. As you would guess this didn't work at all and since I do not run a triple spring I was able to go back to the viton seals with a metal jacket and all is well.

I had the same problem with the metal seals on my edelbrock heads, but on the edelbrock heads the seals fit the guide tight and were not easy to get off. My heads came from the port shop with these seals and after chasing down a smoking problem I changed them as a last resort and that was the fix.

pretty sure metal clad seals without the rubber on the guide skirt area are to be used with a sealer. At least that's the way I've used them. white Teflon is my favorite when you can use them. Usually when using triple spring I use the metal clad w/ blue rubber inside the guide skirt and a .500 guide outside dia. There are blue rubber metal clads, that look like the Comps that don't have the rubber in the guide area.

OK, I see there's a few things to look at on the seals. They are all leaking, some worse than others.

I'm a semi retired machinist and built my own seal driver with a mandrel to locate in the guide to make sure the seals were square. One thing I didn't check was how how far down the OD of the guide was machined to be sure the seal would be seated around the top inside surface. The metal skirts did fit super tight on the OD of the guide.


I'll order a new set from Greg @ Superformance and check to make sure everything fits correctly before installing.

As to the oil control issue, I'm going to call Smith Brothers today and see what they offer for smaller oil holes. To save money I made the mistake of ordering Manley 1 piece pushrods that have a .065" hole and no way to modify.

Maybe by next season I can have something sorted out.

I read the other day that member DVW installed roll pins @ the lifter end and restricted his oil flow without purchasing new push rods,just a thought

Just ordered new pushrods from Smith Brothers with .020 oil holes. I'm hoping that solves most of my problem. They will replace the ends if needed for $1.52 each, labor included! Can't go wrong there.

After our last race of the season I'll get new seals from Superformance and install them also, hopefully the right way.

Stay tuned.

P.S.

I now have a set (20) of 7/16"x.095 wall x 5/16" ball end Chromoly, Smith Brothers appx. 9.800 long and a set of Manley 7/16"x.165 wall (10 @ 9.900 & 10 @ 9.850) for sale.

The Manleys have 6 passes, except the 4 spares that haven't been used.