a while back i had my heads pocket ported by a local guy, he also did a valve job, and knurled the valve guides ect. He told me something about the install hieght was incorrect for my cam and that he put in different shims to correct it.

so i just got the engine back together and after intial start up my rockers were clicking so i took the covers off to redo the valve lash.

After pulling the valve cover i found a bunch of tiny springs laying in my head, which were obviously the stem seal springs. so pulled one of the valve springs off and realized that the seals were destroyed my inner springs were missing

i was wondering what could cause this and why would he take out the inside spring, i cant imagine that the 987s will work like that, and what do i need to do to fix this problem

thanks guys

 

Well, to begin with, one needs to know what you mean by "local guy"----i.e, is the guy a professional mechanic, with the tools and the know how to port and pocket valves and perform "valve jobs"? It's one thing to shim the springs to get the corrrect height and pressures and quite another thing to remove the inner spring of a dual-spring without explaing why he did it. How would one expect to attain the correct pressures from a dual spring that was no longer a dual spring?

And if the pressures were inadequate for your combination all kinds of nasty things can happen. I believe you need to be asking the mechanic these things. Twould be nice if you got back to us with his expanation so that we (moi) could learn something. JHMO

thx

 

And...if the mech. knurled the guides because they were badly worn, I suggest you pull the heads---take them to a head shop and have the guides replaced, the correct springs installed, and the heads essentially ready to plug and play. At any rate, your guides are probably no good and your springs are apparently no good either, so get the heads done correctly ---and while you have your heads in the shop have them clean up the pockets if they weren't done correctly. JMHO

 

Sounds like the push rod may be to long if the retainer is hitting the stem seals or the guides are to high.

 

I agree, to hit a retainer off of a seal theres something going on there, I've seen .650 lift cams in cars and still not hit.

 

Pushrod length has nothing to do with retainer to seal clearance.

Knurling guides is never the right thing to do.

If the retainers are hitting the seals with a stock cam, you have guides that have moved.

The heads need to be taken to a PROFESSIONAL and re-done, and based on what I see of what this guy did, I would be very scared of his "pocket port" job, it is very easy to kill the airflow of a head if you put the grinder in the hands of an idiot.

 

well the guy i took it to just did the porting and from what i understand he had some shop do all the machine work

i cant get a hold of him right now because of the holidays but i'll let you guys know when i find out

 

well i figured out what was going on, the spring seat wasn't letting the stem seal go all the way down like it was supposed to. I replaced the spring seats that had a shorter collar and now everything is fine. But im still pissed that i had to go back though it and redo someone elses f--k up.

i just figured i would post the solution just in case some one searches for the same problem

 

What did you do about the inner spring?

 

it turns out that the shop replaced the springs with new ones, and didnt charge me or write it on the invoice, they're not 987s b/c 987s are 1.43 OD and these are 1.28 OD but i got them mic'd and they are going to work fine for my set up.
Moral- pay close attention to details if someone else is working on YOUR stuff.

 

I'd be wary of a place that just swaps out your springs and didn't tell you. You have no idea if they replaced your spring with something that's quality.