boostd4

Whew. Alright, now I'm going out and trying it out.... CLOCKWISE.

This thread has got to be tons-'o-laughs for the veterans of this site.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

I don't think so.. **** happens..

Atleast you waited to think about it and ask about something that didn't sound right.
I thought about it and read what you had typed again and was like.. ****, I'm backwards..lol


I've helped out a friend before to figure out what position the Crank was in on a Cylinder and used a couple of Pushrods to do it the same way I just explained it to you.

We got lucky here and it was on the non-firing side of the cycle, if it was on the firing side then none of the Pushrods would have been different cause it would have been on the flat part of the Cam and I would have told you to try a different Cylinder. The easiest to use when that happens would be the Cylinder that is directly across from it in the Firing order(or 4 ahead), which would have been #3.

boostd4

IT WORKED!!!!!

I don't know what was holding the valve in the guide though. I turned the crank a good 45 degrees before the valve moved at all. It did however come back up, and now that I know cyl #2 is at TDC, I can use the TDC method and air for the rest of the cylinders.

PM me your paypal address, Merv, I'd like to buy you a beer or two.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

Glad it worked for you.. PM sent..

It was probably just sitting in the Guide and holding itself there due to gravity..it sits on a slight angle in there..not necessarily straight up and down.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

LS1Tech to the rescue..........

boostd4

Wow, now to add insult to injury.....

I'm changing all the springs because one of them broke when I flew down to OKC to test drive/buy this car. I ended up flying back to Chicago and the owner had his tractor mechanic compression test the car (0 psi in the cyl with broken spring), put a new spring in it and re-test it. That cylinder came back right in line with the other cylinders when a new spring was installed. I thought it odd that more damage wasn't done, and suspected there might be dual-springs in there and perhaps an inner or outer broke only. He said he didn't know how to tell.

I had some PAC 1518's bought and shipped down to him to replace the broken one (and the rest of them). The plan was to fix the broken one, then compression test that cylinder again and see if it fixed the problem.

It did.

So I had the car shipped up here because his mechanic didn't feel comfortable changing all the rest of the springs. He said the PAC 1518's didn't look like the spring he took out of the car. I figured he was just an oafy mechanic that didn't like that difference in beehive shapes and was scared about liablility.

NOPE.

This is what I just pulled out of cylinder # 2:

boostd4

The PAC 1518's are meant to work as a STOCK REPLACEMENT, meaning they work with the stock seats, retainers, and locks.

My questions:

1) Can anyone identify this spring?
2) It's a dual spring, so will I DEFINITELY need new retainers for a single spring?
3) Do these types of springs use custom seats, or stock? Will I have to buy new stock seats, and is that something that is easily changed out?

Thanks. I want to install the PAC 1518's because this small head/cam package doesn't need the extra weight of a dual spring, nor do I want the extra valvetrain noise some have attributed to dual-spring setups.

Thanks for the input!

GMCtrk

iTrader: (23)

all you need for the 1518s are stock seats and locks. They are direct bolt in and go. I have the 1218s and wish I got the 1518s....SDPC didnt have them on their website at the time and only cost $50 more

boostd4

Yea, but now I'm a little screwed... or at least I won't be able to finish today....

I'm going to Speed Inc in a few minutes to verify what's what, but how do I know these dual springs of unknown manufacturer didn't come with their own seats? Now do I have to necessarily buy new OEM seats?

Then... if I do, doesn't that throw my spring installed height all out the window? I'm not opposed to mic'ing out the spring height, but with the mass of conflicting information on how to adjust spring height (shim under seat, shim over seat, offset retainers, etc) I'm a little lost. I don't have any smoke right now and really didn't want to change the valve seals if I didn't have to. If I have to swap seats, I suppose I'll just have to do the seals, too.

I suppose it'd all be clear if I just mic out the spring height. If it's within reasonable shimming I'll just toss some shims on top of the seat.

...this is what you get when you don't build the motor yourself, and you buy it already broken

I like projects though. I whine, but it's still fun.

Siciliano15

iTrader: (7)

what i would do is like others said turn the engine over by hand after removing all of the spark plugs but keep the pen magnet on the valve stem also so that if ur on the downstroke it wont go down any further but if ur on the upstroke it will just come up

boostd4

Thanks, but read the whole thread before posting

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Hate to say this, but that looks like a SBC spring. Are the heads reworked at all? If yes, measure the diameter of the valve stem before you get too far. Verify it is 0.315" and not 0.344".

boostd4

Valve stem measured to be .316" .. at least that's what my digital mic read. There may have been .0006" of oil film on there

So that's good news? What would have happenned if they were .344?

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

There was a recent post by someone who bought used heads and tried to fit up LS valve springs. Turned out the heads had been previously fitted with SBC valves and the retainers/locks wouldn't fit.

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

That doesn't look like a dual spring, all I see is a single spring with a damper.

boostd4

Wow, crazy! You had me freaked for a minute because these are GTP Stage 2 ported 5.3L heads. I don't know what upgraded/different valves are used (if any) or what they do to make them "stage 2" as the website doesn't have any info. AFAIK it very well could have been SBC valves... I haven't been around longer than a dogs fart to know what comes with what yet.

Thanks for the heads up though. I'm halfway done with the swap. I still have to do lifter preload with my dial indicator and PR checker

I fear I'll be in the garage quite late this evening. It's my only night to work on the car this week though and if I don't get Speed Inc the custom PR lengths I need by tomorrow, they won't be here/installed in time for my Tuesday am tuning date.

Thanks again to everyone in this thread for the help! Speed Inc went above and beyond to help me tonight as well, but I'll post a thread about that in the appropriate forum.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

That's why I said it looks like a SBC spring. I have never seen these for LSx motors. He is installing PAC 1518's, which are a beehive. I assume he has other seats and retainers for the PAC's.

boostd4

Those "SBC-look-alike" springs used the stock LS1 seats. I don't believe they are SBC springs, just similar style. They used custom retainers with stock locks.

I was able to reuse the seats and locks and had to go out and get some LS1 factory retainers. It's all together now (minus pushords) and spins over fine.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Good deal.

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

yea thats definately a single spring with a damper...