I just tried to take my dual springs off my car since I'm returning it to stock. I remember how hard it wat to get the keepers in when I installed them. Well they are really stuck in there. I was using 80 psi of air to hold up the valves and on every cylinder the keepers stuck to the valve pushing it down into the cylinder releasing the air. Then I had a bright idea to tap the keepers with a screw driver, pop, one shot out. After an hour of looking for it, I found it. Someone will benefit from my valve springs when the dealer sells my car. Ok, rant is over. I beleive the springs are as good as the rest but the retainers do not fit well and they require the stock keepers.

If anyone knows how to get them out, maybe the next guy will benefit, I wont.

 

Piston to the top, along with the compressed air? Mine came off after 10k miles without a problem using the before mentioned and my spring compressor.

 

PRC uses the stock locks for 2 reasons.1)they are light , 2)there has never been a failure of the stock lock.On any cylinder heads that have been run for a while ( regardless of the retainer material ),the locks will be hard to remove.The easiest way to free them up is to tap the retainer with a rubber hammer before using the valve spring compressor.This will make removing everything much easier.There is thousands of the PRC titanium retainers in use with zero problems.

 

I gently tap the retainer with a hammer so the keepers can break loose, then compress the spring. You will see small oil bubbles emerge between the keepers and the retainer when they are broken loose.

 

I agree, the easiest way I have found is to put a little tension on the retainer/spring with your spring compresser tool then tap slightly around the lock on the retainer and it should just pop up a little. This will also keep the locks from flying across the garage/yard if you just try to muscle it...

 

Use the TDC method of holding up the valves.

Also, if youre using a larry type spring compressor, apply pressure on the tool when its loose as youre tightening it up either towards or away from the intake tilll you find what works. This will make it so that as the tool starts to push down on the retainer, youre not applying a side load and binding against the valve stem. Might take a couple tries till you find out what works...

 

Use the rubber mallet and hit each one before you start to compress the springs..I always use a magnet to pick them out of the retainer when the spring is compressed...never had a problem..