maintence finds .....

I'd agree with Keith on the controversy on brand as every on has thier preference.

I like And use the Comp Cams Lifters, But IMO Isky, Crower, LSM and Jesel are all top rate.

As far as springs their are alot of good one, it's a matter of getting the right one and frequency for your valvetrain. And paying attention to them.

blue stripes like Ky Jell has on his P51 deal.

Blue stripe for the win........

which springs do the P51's come with?

They can be what ever fits a guys application.

Several of us are using the blue strip spring Lem sales and have had no problems, it's a very good spring. Well suited for our cams and lift we run.

Ran them in both EMC motors last year, have them in my A460 Motor and Karl has a set in his Iron headed mud drag truck.

so who is driving down to alabama to change my springs for me room, board and food for a weekend ...ask Dan i feed well

powerstrokeace wrote:I have close to 200 runs on the springs and they are breaking left and right . Or every time I run the car. But there 10 years old.... New set on the way for the National next week end. Comp Cams 947's

Ace

Spring are done and truck and trailer's in line for the mile highs nationals

Ace

bruno wrote:so who is driving down to alabama to change my springs for me room, board and food for a weekend ...ask Dan i feed well

Maybe,,,,,just maybe,,,,,you should hire a crew chief.

Step 1. Buy a valve spring checking tool. Even the cheaper Moroso beam type unit will work for this.

Step 2. Buy a Moroso rocker stud mount valve spring compressor. Reinforce, brace and weld the tangs on it, because they will bend & break. The much better Manley piece has been discontinued.

Step 3. Buy a short little air hose with the 14mm spark plug thread on the end of it, in order to pump air into the cylinders.

Step 4. Buy an air compressor to pump air into the cylinder to hold the valve up while you change the spring.

Uncle Charlie

And bump each cylinder to tdc while changing just in case.

dfree383 wrote:And bump each cylinder to tdc while changing just in case.

X2, don't trust the air pressure to hold the valves closed....don't ask me how I know.............

I just put the piston at top dead center and go on and change them with no air.

With the piston at TDC and the good positive stop seals on it the valve wont move, and if it does it wont go far.

IDT-572 wrote:I just put the piston at top dead center and go on and change them with no air.

With the piston at TDC and the good positive stop seals on it the valve wont move, and if it does it wont go far.

Blake,

I know that traditionally most of us "rap" the retainer with a dead blow hammer in order to break the locks loose. We still need to do that, however I've noticed that with the kinds of valve spring pressures we are running nowadays, that it is best to have air pressure against the valves when you rap the retainer, and also when you are depressing the retainer down, so that you don't move everything including the valve itself.

Another hint is that you don't leave a ratchet or breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt when you are applying the air pressure with a quick connect coupler. If the piston is not exactly at TDC, the air pressure will drive the piston down in a hurry, and in the process turn the crank in a hurry

Uncle Charlie

lol Charlie. I saw that happen before. made me laugh my simple ass off. I need to get a better sping compressor. I have a cheapy one i picked up from the Matco guy that I used to have to tighten the knob to compress the spings. Now it has an old socket welded to it and I hit it with the air ratchet

One of these days I'll spend some money and get a rocker stud mount compressor and call it good.

Oh, and gotta love them blue stripe springs.

Add to your list of tools, that travel with you to the track where an air compressor may not be available in case you need to change a valve spring ..... a long piece of nylon rope just smaller in diameter than the spark plug opening. Remove the spark plug and insert the rope into the cylinder via the spark plug opening and roll the piston to or near TDC (until it stops), the valve won't go anywhere even if it does get loose from the seal!

Dave.

How about some information on the Blue Stripe Spring???

Ace

I was changing my springs this year and my buddy shut the switch off for the compressor on accident.Talk about freaking out when i went to change a valve spring.

Later Mark.

powerstrokeace wrote:How about some information on the Blue Stripe Spring???

Ace

Blue stripe is just our country boy designation of the spring becaue of the paint stripe. It is actually a Manley NexTek # 221424 double with a 2.000" installed height and it comes on the assembled new style TFS A-460 heads. Lem also uses it on his assembled P-51 heads that are intended for big roller cams and racing. Sig Erson also sells this same spring, but I never can remember the part #.

Specs are; seat = 250/260 lbs., open = 800/810 lbs. @ 1.150", rate = 650 lbs., coil bind = 1.070", o.d. = 1.640", i.d. = .860", max lift = .870/880".

It is better to operate a valve spring closer to coil bind (about +.060" away from coil bind), than not to operate it close enough. I use it in Kristina Lawyer's 598 A headed engine, in Bobby Shrewsberry's 559 P-51 headed engine, and in many other customer's heads. I've had excellent service life out of them.

Uncle Charlie

kinda off topic, but any of you fellas use CO2 for portable compressed air? Like the PowerTank? Things are awesome and very portable

http://www.powertank.com/