Valve springs

[Roger GrixParticipant]

My engine was fitted with new valve springs in 2016, when rebuilt by Andrew Galt, along with the rest of the car.

8000 miles later I have 2 broken outer springs, 1 inlet and 1 exhaust.

I am not sure where Andrew purchased them but there are clearly springs on the market with defective material or heat treatment. I will ask him to try to check.

Has anybody else had problems?

Does anyone have the special tool shown in the workshop manual for compressing the valve springs without removing the cylinder head, and/or experience of using it? Is there enough valve stem to fit the collets with the valves, presumably, sitting on the top of the piston at TDC?

Roger_G

[Richard LarterParticipant]

You could use some string. If you feed some string into the plug hole with that piston at the bottom of its stroke then when sufficient string is in place the piston can be rotated to force the string against the valves and hold them in place. You could use compressed air but I put my trust in string!

Cheers

Richard

 

[Roger GrixParticipant]

Thanks Richard,

I had forgotten that trick. I used it on my strimmer, not to hold the valves in place (2 stroke) but to hold the crank so that I could tighten the nut on the end.

Regards

Roger_G

[Roger GrixParticipant]

For general information:

The springs that have failed were supplied by CAS in 2016.

Andrew has not fitted new valve springs on any other engines so, if he has worked on your car, you don’t have to worry.

If you have fitted some, it may be worth a check.

Roger_G

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