Replacing vavle seals

[ClemsonCruiser]

Okay I am hoping to stop some of the bleeding AKA oil burning that my old 2F loves to do so much. I bought vavle seals to put in my cruiser and all the other gaskets that are required. I was going to have it done by a mechanic, but after getting some qoute prices I deiceded saving money and learning something new about the internals of my engine would be a win win situation. However before I get in over my head wanted to hear from you guys on the technical difficulty of replacing the vavle seals. I have pulled and and reinstalled two engines, put on carbs and distributors, and even installed a locker, but I would consider myself a novice mechanic at best. So with that said how hard of task is it to undertake, and what if any special tools are required, and how about any tricks to doing it not mentioned in the manuals. Please share your experiences and opions.

Thanks
JP

 

[IDave]

I saved this "trick" that someone left at some point. I can't remember who wrote it, however, so I can't give credit where it is due: but here it is:

"ok goat and pimpy this ones for you,,,, when you feed the string in the spark plug hole bring the piston up toword TDC, the string will jamb in there holding the vavles up. go about the normal routine taking off the valve cover and junk, then you can simply shove the valve spring down,remove the keeper and slowly release the spring, the valve seal is right there. you wont push the spring down with fingers, there are a few ways to do it but i like to use a length of pipe with a slot cut in it like some styles of valve spring compressors."

 

[Torskin]

Do your self a favour and get yourself a Gregory's Land Cruiser FJ Series petrol 1975 - 1984 manual. According to it, if you remove the bolts holding head on in the incorrect sequence, you can do damage. True or not i have no idea, but you never know.

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

IDave, I remember reading something similiar to that a while back, thanks for posting it up.
Torskin no worries I have the Haynes manual with the bolt tightening sequence.

 

[Torskin]

kewl dude

 

[Trevor]

Are you still in N. Augusta? Let me know if you need help. I pulled my cylinder head myself, but had a machine shop rebuild it. Cost less than $200 (excluding the Toyota head gasket).

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

Trevor I am back up at school(clemson) now, yeah I talked to that machine shop and they basically offered me the same price as you, but shortly after I talked to you about all this I bought a 88FJ62 that was in the forsale section here. It Kaderabek's rig, don't know if you saw it. So the 200 seemed like a good price but I can barely afford the payments on my new cruiser, so I decided I would go ahead and attempt to replace the vavle seals myself. I appreciate your offer to help out, If I was still in north augusta I would have definetly take you up on it because I always need some one there to make sure I don't screw stuff up.... Last time I talked to you, you mentioned a trip to Tellico in August sometime I believe? Is that still on? My roomate up at school recently bought a 55 and we have been working hard one it, he is getting an engine next week and with any luck he will be good to roll soon and then we want to take it out and wheel it hard. So if you are still planning on going up there let me know cause I would be in for sure.

 

[65swb45]

If you have a second pair of hands to assist, a pair of channel lock pliers layed on either side of the valve spring will do nicely to compress the spring while the second pair of hands removes the keepers.

Mark

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

Thanks for the tip mark, When looking at the factory service manual it showed some kind of special tool for removing the springs which I obviously don't have. So it is good to know there are ways of getting around that. Also I am sure I can find a spare set of hands I have three roomates up at college I imagine I can trick one of them into helping me out.

 

[60wag]

I've never done stem seals with the head on the engine but I recall some trick where you attach a compressed air line to the spark plug hole. The compressed air holds the valves in place while you change the seals - assuming the valves aren't leaking too badly. It also seems that if you get the piston up at top of stroke on whatever cyl you're working on, the valve wouldn't be able to drop down very far anyhow - it would just sit on the top of the piston.

 

[Roadnoiz40]

I have replaced valve seals on two V8's with the heads still on the block.
My suggestion is to get the small valve spring compressor. There is one designed to use a wrench, especially for this purpose.
I cranked the engine over by hand so that the piston was near the top of the stroke in the cylinder I was working on.
With spark plug removed, I inserted a piece of metal coat hanger that was curved to contact the valve face inside the combustion chamber.
This system worked well for me.

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

Thanks for all the tips guys on how to do it with out removing the head, should save me alot of trouble and also thanks for the tips on removing the springs.