Looking for a good valvespring tool now for my car. Who makes a decent one?

I would have paid the money for the I think it was crane valve spring tool that compressed 2 springs at once, but I dont think its offered any more and then theres the tool that a couple people were offering on here for 35-40$ which seemed decent.

I tried buying one at the local autoparts store with the handle and one it doesnt fit the valves at the front or back of the engine, it bitched up the mating surface between the head and valve cover, I hope I can smooth it enough that I dont have sealing issues, and it would compress the valve spring all crooked over the valve so the spring was gettin tweaked.

Ended up snapping one valvespring and another slipped through the tool and shot a retainer locks at me at high speed.

Safe to say a simple job has become complex due to lack of half decent tool.

Also I did a little experiment and it doesnt seem like the valve will drop into the cylinder unless you push it in. It drosp down to the end of the valve and the end of the valve seems to stay supported on its own by the guide/seal.

 

I have a Craftsman one that I extended the tips on for my Dual-Coil Springs.

To the part about testing the Valve dropping into the Cylinder.. ya that's walkin on thin ice of an epic fail.

 

tims tool

 

The guy selling the tims tool hasent been online in over a month. I cant really wait a month for something.

 

You can turn that hand operated unit into a usable and decent tool rather quickly, and free...

Cut nearly all the handle off of it, (leave enough to hold onto the edge of the head) and flip it upside down. Get a piece of rubber hose, cut it length ways and slide it over the edge where it will now rest on the head. Get some all thread the same as the rocker bolts, and a nut, and a few washers, and voila. You can now compress the valve springs with a ratchet and they will stay in place while you remove/replace the locks.

You can just use a rocker arm bolt, but be very careful because your only holding by a few threads at first. Replace the hose as needed to protect the heads.

Good luck.

 

I used a cheap one from Harbor Freight. It was like $12, and worked fine. It took me about 2 hours to all the springs but i also had 8 compression tester hoses all ready in all the spark plug holes, so all i had to do was disconnect the air hose and plug in to the next one.
one you do the first couple you get in a groove and you can run through them fairly quick.
good luck!

 

Don't get the Autozone one. It was absolutely junk. 2 hours later with a welder and some steel stock it was pretty decent. It had some slight flex, but it did the job.

 

This is a knockoff of the old Crane tool and compresses two springs at once really speeding things up. It is a nice piece but not cheap http://www.speedinc.com/cont.cfm?cid=C0000900

 

People are still sending money. I would imagine he is still supplying them.

 

At the very least make a post in the for sale section "WTB Tims Tool" I am sure someone has one that they no longer need.

 

Email Tim here:

Tim Schroeder [Ramair69gto@sbcglobal.net]

He is still selling them, and the price is $60 for the tool and air plug also. Just subject line: LSX valve spring tool and air tool

I bought one about 2 months ago and have used it on 2 diffrent cars to do a full spring swap, one LS6 springs to behives, and other was stock to 918s. Tool held up well, and did its job, only had a slight bending on the tool due to the excess use and I think we bottomed out a spring once that didnt help. We just used a vice to straiten it back and it did fine from there.

 

not ot hijack the thread, but does anyone know of a decent flywheel lock tool? the member that used to make them on here no longer does

 

I've seen them on eBay. I believe it was a Kent Moore tool.

 

In reply to the tims tool i just bought one about two weeks ago and recieved it in 2 or 3 days works great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

 

Tool came in about 3 days after I ordered it. Very good service and great finnish look to the product.

 

Both the LS1 and LS3 style Crane tools are STILL available and still made by the original manufacturer.

 

I just bought one the other day too. Should be here in the next day or two.

 

I will recommend the one 6spdgto sells. Just bought one from him this last month and it is a very nice piece, worked flawlessly. They are a little pricey but worth every penny. Not only works great but gives you the piece of mind that it isn't going to break.

 

Thanks! I agree that they are a little pricey but they work flawlessly time after time after time. This is one of those things that you get what you pay for. No bending, no breaking, no stressing of threads. I've even known people to rent them out!!

 

i really like the one i got from speed inc.it might be the crane tool.if not it looks identical