Well I tried to use the comp valve spring tool and the valves are going down with the spring? Wtf? Shouldn't the valve stay put and the spring go down? I'm afraid the valves might have hit the piston because I had it at tdc? So now I may need to pull the heads? I'm so pissed right now, where am I going wrong?

 

This is what you can do when doing the springs, hand rotate the crank to where the valve would get pushed by the piston upwards and it is secure so it will not go down.

 

Will getting pushed up against the piston not damage the valves?

 

You are not exerting enough force to damage the valves. they aren't soft aluminum.

 

Just to clarify myself, you want the valve to be on the piston not the piston pushing the valve all the way up. You want the piston to be on top so valve will not drop.

 

I got one more to go, Passenger side, furthest towards the firewall. This one looks fun. Thanks for all the help guys. I'll post up when it's running.

 

That's because the keepers are not releasing from the retainer. What you need to do is once you have compressed the spring a bit (1/4" or more), then take something semi-soft, like the end of a hammer's handle and push on the outside edge of the spring's retainer. That will help separate the retainer from the keepers.

 

Google is your friend. You have to pressurize the cylinder or put piston at TDC. Really.. it's scary to think you started this project without knowing that.

 

I did both... But apparently I went too far past TDC on this last cylinder and since the tool blocks the view of the spring I couldn't see the spring was not lined up straight.
All done though, EPS cam is in.