when adding shims to the valve springs, or any kind of work that requires removal, what works best to keep the valves from dropping? Compressed air, rope pushed onto the cylinder, other ideas?
Also, don't forget, when a particular cylinder is at TDC, it's companion cylinder will be there also. 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 Cylinders 1-6, 8-5, 4-7, and 3-2 are companion cylinders.
Over the years I’ve changed out countless sets of valve stem seals as well as springs (especially after flat tappet cam break-in) on customers and my own engines, and have always used compressed air without failure. I use my cylinder leak down gauge set-up which makes it a breeze and you can monitor the exact pressure that’s in the cylinder. I’m personally not a fan of stuffing anything in a cylinder other than “fuel and air”, .... but that’s just me. Larry
I ended up using a 1/4” stiff rope. Shoved a bunch in (probably 4 feet) then brought the piston up by turning the crankshaft bolt until there was good resistance. Works great so far. Valves didn’t drop at all.
Also brought a spring in to the machinist. Definitely stock springs. We added a 0.030” shim and it brought the pressure up about 10 pounds. I decided to just go with stage 1 springs. I’ll use those springs if/when I do a head swap.
Not sure how big of cam you have, tas stage1 plus springs worked well for us up to and slightly over .575 lift Don't forget when adding shims to in crease pressure you are also decreasing the amount of lift b4 coil bind
Stage 1 plus are normally direct plug and play, but with larger lifts, guide to retain clearance might need to be adjusted for proper clearance
