Any make shift way in removing a valve spring without a valve spring remover

[sujitroy]

I'm going to have a cylinder head worked on at a shop, but I'm curious to take it apart myself to take a look at it. I don't want to buy a valve spring remover just to remove 1 valve. Any suggestions?

Sujit

[KOY 23]

Count your fingers before and after, the numbers may differ.

[len]

Count your fingers before and after, the numbers may differ.

[sujitroy]

that bad.

[len]

hi
yes it could be !
they are under a fair bit of sprung pressure .
Len

[flying farmer]

Not actually tried this but it would probably work......

Find a socket that fits around the raised ring on the valve spring cap and a socket extension bar.

Clamp the extension in a vice with the socket pointing upwards, carefully lower the head onto the socket so it locates on the spring cap and push down half an inch.

This will free off the valve collets, though you may have to push on the valve to stop it opening (or have someone else tap it down after it has opened). The collets should fall into the socket if you give the head a bit of a wriggle, then lift the head off the socket.

With the weight of the head you will probably only need a relatively gentle push, doing one of the central valves first would be simplest, and doing it this way would avoid the collets going into orbit (or your eyeball).

Neil

[Ian F]

But of course Neil, don’t try this at home! Especially without the safety assessment, safety glasses, hard hat, box protector etc.

I seem to remember removing collets and valve springs by inserting a screw or stud into the head, slipping a ring spanner (or two) over it, then a larger nut, and levering against the nut! Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Wouldn’t risk it now and it wasn’t a Stag head.

ian F

[dasadrew]

Errr... why not just poke your nose in at the "shop" after they've removed the valves?

I suppose I could mention that $35 or so is worth it to safeguard life and limb and avoid putting in some nice scratches on the fire ring area of the cylinder head when it slips but then, I'm all for people doing what they want as long as no-one else is affected! I'm also a great fan of Darwin.

Drew

[Mark Serj]

Putting the valve back in would be fun too........

[trunt]

** edit** I reread it — the head is off the car. Buy a valve compressor!


There is an adapter that uses the spark plug hole to apply compressed air to keep the valve closed whilst you remove and more importantly refit the collets.

I have done it on an ohv engine or two but I wouldnt like like to do it on a tv8!

[sujitroy]

Would something like this work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Toyota-Honda-BMW-VW-Audi-Motorcycle-Car-Valve-Spring-Compressor-Pusher-Tool/362441027824?hash=item54632b30f0:g:vJgAAOSwvRtbpaGq:rk:12:pf:0&autorefresh=true

Drew, the shop is about 30 miles away so makes it difficult to visit. They are closed on weekends.

[flying farmer]

Not actually tried this but it would probably work......

Find a socket that fits around the raised ring on the valve spring cap and a socket extension bar.

Clamp the extension in a vice with the socket pointing upwards, carefully lower the head onto the socket so it locates on the spring cap and push down half an inch.

This will free off the valve collets, though you may have to push on the valve to stop it opening (or have someone else tap it down after it has opened). The collets should fall into the socket if you give the head a bit of a wriggle, then lift the head off the socket.

With the weight of the head you will probably only need a relatively gentle push, doing one of the central valves first would be simplest, and doing it this way would avoid the collets going into orbit (or your eyeball).

Neil

Curiosity got the better of me!

19mm socket fits over the spring cap, 6 inch extension on the socket.

Socket and extension balanced on the shed floor pointing upwards, head placed upside down on the socket on one of the central valves.

Needs 20-30 lbs of downward pressure at a guess to compress the spring, and the valve does need to be tapped back onto its seat to free the collets, I did manage this myself but a spare hand would be useful!

Working on the floor makes it easy to apply the required pressure in a controlled fashion, I think it would be far harder to do in a bench mounted vice

You can't actually tell if the collets have fallen into the socket, but if you press up and down a couple more times and the valve doesn't open its a fair bet the collets are now in the bottom of the socket.

Lift the head and if the valve spring and cap fall on the floor, job done!

The way I can see a possibility of doing yourself a mischief here, is if the valve spring and cap don't fall on the floor there is always the possibility only one collet has fallen out and the other one has hung up in some oily goo, so don,t turn the head over and point the spring cap straight at your face!

Neil

[elvimto]

I like making tooling the head slides through then you turn the screw to push down on to the cut away bit and compress the spring and use a magnet to remove the collets a bit over the top but it was a slow work week back then.

[022Dave]

I like making tooling the head slides through then you turn the screw to push down on to the cut away bit and compress the spring and use a magnet to remove the collets a bit over the top but it was a slow work week back then.

Probably not quite the cost-saving measure that Sujit had in mind...

Dave

[Seaking]

I picked up a nearly new valve spring compressor for £5 at a auto jumble