Changing the valve springs in the car sucked A$$ too!

 

Thank you, sir! Placed my order for them today.

Haha, I hear ya, man! Thankfully the engine is still sitting out of the car. I've got the heads in the basement right now all torn apart waiting to be reassembled.

 

Higher temp material used for exhaust seals = more expensive, but more durable.

 

It's amazing how many aftermarket seals there are that are all the wrong size - is .530 and .560 standard for most car markers and Chevy just decided to be different with the LT1 or what?

 

well aftermarket sbc heads are almost always .530. thats to free up some room for thicker and/or double spring setups. think the old school chevy (stock)heads were the .560 size. Ive used the stock LT1 seals and ofcourse they work perfect. and yes for anyone else reading this, the exh is a diff. material to deal with the added heat of the exh valve compared to the intake valve. thats why two diff types of seals intake and exh. from GM. I believe the felpro seals are all the more durable high heat ones so they'll all be the same. but Im sure you'll find that out when they arrive.

maybe Im wrong, but Ive always thought those old school stock steel cups that go over the o.d. of the spring and used the orings on the stem were called "umbrella"? cause they acted like an umbrella keeping most of the oil from running down onto the valve directly.

 

oh yeah, and Id practice with the orig. seals first, cause if you overinstall the new ones, they'll split on ya. then you gotta order a new set. done that before. but once you get the feel of how hard to tap them on, you'll be ok. I use the socket and hammer setup too. light taps with a normal hammer. you can actually feel when the seal bottoms out. the tap noise will get dull and be more of a thud when it does bottom out on the guide.

 

I am not sure either, but I think what you are referring to is just a large design retainer to hold the spring. The umbrella seals are "thimble" shaped seals that go over the valve stems. They are larger than the typical SBC seals. I know they have been used for BBCs.

 

Cool - thanks for the info guys! I'll make sure to play around with the stockers first before I use the new fel pros. Can't wait to get this all back together and start installing the LT1. Nothing like going from an old and tired 3.4L v6 to a cammed LT1.

 

Get the Felpro kit. At first I went to a dealership, and the parts guy was like "yea these are too expensive, you should just go get a kit at a parts shop." I ended up getting the felpro kit and they fit fine.

The first time putting them on, I didn't seat them enough, so I had to go back and redo some of them. It takes some good bonking to get them to seat all the way.

 

apparently the one you had were for a Gen 1 LT1. Glad you got it figured out.

 

What you are referring to is the spring oil shield or deflector - just a primitive way of metering the amount of oil that reaches the spring/stem/guide. These are used in conjunction with a small o-ring that seats below the keepers on the valve keeping too much oil from coming down that direction. Then the umbrella seal sits on the valve and sheds the excess oil splashing off the springs as they move. Converting the old motors to a metal clad viton seal will meter oil properly and last as long as the motor without hardening like the other types will.

 

Just use a deep well socket and plastic hammer to gently seat them....you can easily feel when they seat.