I am swapping the heads on my 66 Mustang 302 and am having trouble removing the vavle springs on the old heads. I wanted to use the springs, retainers, and locks again for the new heads but some of the springs were very very stuck. The valve spring compressor is kinda old but I dont think its broken. I eventually got all the springs off but I am now hesitant to re-use them because I am afraid they are damaged. They do have scratches and stuff but I think that is from the valve spring compressor slipping while trying to compress them. Also I was wondering how important it is to use the rocker arm, spring, lock, and retainer on the same cylinder that they were on on the old heads. I know these are alot of questions but I hope you guys can help me. Thanks in advance, Mike.
Stuck valve springs
- Thread starter rainman39393
- Start date
Best thing to do is measure the springs to see if they still have enough seat pressure. They're not too expensive to replace.
I doubt the springs themselves were stuck. You probably had a hard time getting the retainers out.
Rocker arms and valves should stay at the same cyln. Moving the retainers, springs, etc shouldn't be a problem.
I doubt the springs themselves were stuck. You probably had a hard time getting the retainers out.
Rocker arms and valves should stay at the same cyln. Moving the retainers, springs, etc shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks for your help! yea i guess it was probably just the retainers that were stuck. Do you have any advice for installing the springs on the new heads? I was told how to do it but have never done it myself. From what I understand I just compress the spring and place the locks on the groove in the valve stem and slowly release the pressure on the spring so the retainer goes around the locks. Does that sound right?
Iamdiffrnt
Member
sounds right to me. When i took my old springs out I just put a little tension on the compressor and gave the retainer a light whack, everything popped loose no problem. Hope this helped
my recomendation is that unless your old springs have few miles on them, replace them. they are inexpensive so there is no reason to risk losing a motor due to a weak spring or two. the retainers and keepers you can reuse as long as they are in good shape.
Similar threads
