Best way to change valve springs?
compressed air was a PITA at first but once I got the hang of it I had no problems and it was pretty quick. I had bought the fitting when I bought my Tim's tool. It uses one of the hoses you would find on a grease gun so it was really stiffand made it hard to flex in to some areas at first.
i have used TDC on a few cars. i bought the air compressor fitting but it was a PITA, and the TDC method does 2 cylinders at a time. i also like the idea of something solid there besides just some air
I've used both.
If you're installing springs on an engine without exhaust manifolds/headers. Compressed air is easier/faster. If you're doing a cam/spring swap on a completely assembled car, using TDC will save you LOADS of time and frustration. Trying to get the air fitting threaded in some of those holes can take over 20 minutes EACH cause of the weird angle. I use TDC on all fully assembled cars.
If you're installing springs on an engine without exhaust manifolds/headers. Compressed air is easier/faster. If you're doing a cam/spring swap on a completely assembled car, using TDC will save you LOADS of time and frustration. Trying to get the air fitting threaded in some of those holes can take over 20 minutes EACH cause of the weird angle. I use TDC on all fully assembled cars.
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i used compressed air and i got the air line for 6.50 set it on my coal stove to heat up and it threaded right in. its alot easyer IMO and faster no need to keep turning the crank around and making sure the piston is at DTC theres nothing unsafe about useing compressed air just make sure u dont let the pressure get low
I've used both.
If you're installing springs on an engine without exhaust manifolds/headers. Compressed air is easier/faster. If you're doing a cam/spring swap on a completely assembled car, using TDC will save you LOADS of time and frustration. Trying to get the air fitting threaded in some of those holes can take over 20 minutes EACH cause of the weird angle. I use TDC on all fully assembled cars.
If you're installing springs on an engine without exhaust manifolds/headers. Compressed air is easier/faster. If you're doing a cam/spring swap on a completely assembled car, using TDC will save you LOADS of time and frustration. Trying to get the air fitting threaded in some of those holes can take over 20 minutes EACH cause of the weird angle. I use TDC on all fully assembled cars.
I used TDC method was really simple, you can do 2 cylinders at once and worked well, here's the copied text from ls1howto:
This method is a bit more elegant. Rotate your motor over by hand until your cam gear and crank gear are dot to dot like you set them up as earlier. At this position, piston 1 and 6 should be at top dead center. You can change the 4 springs on these 2 cylinders now using the instructions below. After you change those 4, then, rotate the crankshaft a full 90 degrees, and the cam gear dot will turn 45 degrees, as if it is pointing to 7:30 if it were a clock. Now piston 8 and 5 are at the top and can be changed. Rotate another 90 degrees on the crank and your cam gear dot will now be at 9 o'clock. Piston 7 and 4 can now have their springs changed. And FINALLY, rotate the crank another 90 degrees and the cam gear dot will be at 10:30. You can now change your remaining four springs on piston 3 and 2.
Once again, that's 1 & 6, rotate 90, 8 & 5, rotate 90, 7 & 4, rotate 90, 3 & 2.
and a link to the cam & valvespring install article www.ls1howto.com. I'd also recommend the crane dual valve spring tool it worked great.
This method is a bit more elegant. Rotate your motor over by hand until your cam gear and crank gear are dot to dot like you set them up as earlier. At this position, piston 1 and 6 should be at top dead center. You can change the 4 springs on these 2 cylinders now using the instructions below. After you change those 4, then, rotate the crankshaft a full 90 degrees, and the cam gear dot will turn 45 degrees, as if it is pointing to 7:30 if it were a clock. Now piston 8 and 5 are at the top and can be changed. Rotate another 90 degrees on the crank and your cam gear dot will now be at 9 o'clock. Piston 7 and 4 can now have their springs changed. And FINALLY, rotate the crank another 90 degrees and the cam gear dot will be at 10:30. You can now change your remaining four springs on piston 3 and 2.
Once again, that's 1 & 6, rotate 90, 8 & 5, rotate 90, 7 & 4, rotate 90, 3 & 2.
and a link to the cam & valvespring install article www.ls1howto.com. I'd also recommend the crane dual valve spring tool it worked great.
