I amgetting a bit of valve float so I figured I am going to swap out springs for the 10308 kit, and the pro-mag 1.6 rr. I don't want to take the heads off the car and am wondering how to set valve spring hight while on car? also anyone else using these springs did you use the spring seats that they give with the kit or something else? I will not be able to do any machining on the heads so a drop in seat will be nessasary. Also any other coments on what I should expect while doing this.

Thanks,
Luke

 

I used this guide recently when installing my rr's & springs. It's a very good guide.

 

Did you use the 10308 kit, and did you check the spring height?

 

To set the spring height you will need a barrel mic ($28 or so) with 2" height. Them make some for rice motors and 4- bangers that are shorter but you don't want one of those. This makes the job accurate and easy. You may need a set of .015 or .030 shims on a few of the cylinders to adjust the height once you get started. While it is very important to have all the springs within the installed height specs, it is critical to get each spring set per cylinder as close to each other as possible.

Also, I would highly recommend you get the Moroso stud mount spring compressor ($60) so you can reach all springs under the cowl and grap the dual coil springs. Some spring compressors will not work with dual springs. Be advised. With this tool you can reach ALL the springs. I just did the Crane spring set on my car last summer.

The whimpy. 015" thick shims that Crane supplies as spring seats are mimimually acceptable IMHO. I used a set of Comp cupped .060" thick seats w/1.50" OD to better locate the spring.

 

This is what I have been reading, can you just swap out the seats and still get the desired valve hight? or does machining have to be done?

Also what valve stem seals are you running?

 

if you go to a locator with a 1.50" OD then you will have to machine the heads. or you can do what i did and just trim down areas of the locator that prevent it from laying flat on the seat

 

how thin can you get these seats? so you can just grind down the parts of the locator seats and they will work on un-machined heads?

 

No I used the LT4 springs in the hotcam kit, didn't check the spring height since I never heard of anyone having to do that with it.

 

I used Victor Reinz valve stem seals Car Quest P/N B45796 ($19). They look oem style.

Regarding getting proper height, this is where everyone's set-up may be different and it gets difficult to provide a simple answer. For yours, I frankly don't know. For mine it worked out just fine. I had my heads CNC'd and decked .010" but the spring pockets are oem size. I have REV valves and they may not be exactly oem length. You may have to use the Crane supplied shims to set the spring installed height properly, if your valve stem is too short for the thicker cupped spring seat. You will need to do one spring and see how it measures/fits.

 

The Crane dual springs are 1.46" OD and are for stock LT1 heads, I used 1.50 CompCam locators and they just barely fit in the pockets.

 

never checked the heights of mine..no problems here?

 

So what is the best way to set these up with the heads on the car? just go with what they say or try choping up some locators so they fit with out machining?

 

since this has not been mentioned......


you need to support the valve in the up position so you do not drop in into the cylinder. with the seals on it will not fall all the way, but without something holding the valve it is difficult to remove and reinstall keepers/locks. once the seal is removed the vlave can fal in and you are screwed! some people use compressed air, but this is difficult with our cramped engine bay. i bought a bungee cord and cut the hook off. i removed all the plugs and for each cylinder i would bring the piston near the top and insert the bungee in the plug hole. then take the cylinder to TDC and the bungie will hold the valve in place so you can remove the keepers, retainers, springs, seats, and seals and reinstall them.

 

you have CNC heads so they may have been machined already. 1.50" OD locator wont fit on stock heads. this is the only reason you cant install 987 springs on unmachined heads... the locators supplied are too large.

 

If you don't check the spring height, you don't have a clue if you are getting the valve seat pressure the spring was designed to give. You want to check it so you know the pressure is not too high or low. IMO, it does not make any sense to shop for a set of springs based on this or that spring pressure and then not measure them when you put them on.

Sometimes what you you don't know won't hurt you. Other times it will. I guess it does not hurt most people, since it seems that 75% of the people putting on springs did not measure them.

I'm not an expert on head work, but the procedure is a standard one.