Broke a valve spring

bobbed_84_toy · Nov 4, 2006

Busted the #4 valve spring on the 460 in the Ford.:wtf: :wtf:
I was driving to school this morning and she started tickin a little bit. At first I didn't really think anything of it, just figured it was a rocker that needed to be adjusted. But then I remembered it was a Ford, not a chevy, you don't adjust the valves, you just torque the rockers down. Went to go to lunch and she started runnin really shitty on me and I could tell it was down to 7 cylinders. Checked the plug wires and the cap/rotor which turned up nothing so I drove it home. Pulled the valve cover off the passenger side(it was poppin out that side) and looked for a loose rocker or a bent pushrod and didn't see anything. Pulled the plugs and #4 was a little darker then the rest. Stuck the compression tester on it and got a whopping 0lbs of compression

Checked compression on #1 and got 140 (which is good cause that means I have around 9.5:1 ratio

). Stuck it back on #4 and still got 0

I knew this wasn't possible unless there was a huge hole in the piston... and there were no chunks,shavings, or oil deposits in the plug:wtf: Looked a little closer at all the rockers and noticed the spring looked a little funny on the exhaust valve for #4. Sure enough, she was busted. I guess the comp cams 4x4 cam is just a little too much for stock springs???:wtf:

Now comes the fun part. Changing the spring without pulling the head:corn:

Totalled · Nov 4, 2006

That's easy. Get the adaptor for the spark plug hole on hold it with compressed air. Then get the valve spring compressor that that works with the head on the motor. I have both things floating around my garage if you live near Oly.

And... just about any cam over stock is too much for used stock springs.. :corn:

bobbed_84_toy · Nov 4, 2006

Totalled said:
That's easy. Get the adaptor for the spark plug hole on hold it with compressed air. Then get the valve spring compressor that that works with the head on the motor. I have both things floating around my garage if you live near Oly.

And... just about any cam over stock is too much for used stock springs.. :corn:

The compression testor has the fitting to plug into an air line. All ready was planning to try that one. Gonna make sure that piston is at TDC before I take the spring off just in case though lol. Didn't even know that they made a compressor to use when the head is still on. That's pretty

though. I live in Black Diamond so it would be a pretty decent drive out your way...especially now that I have nothing to drive

:redneck: How much do those suckers cost? It would probably be a good idea for me just to buy one lol:corn:

Totalled · Nov 5, 2006

Umm... I think they are about $15... I got mine like 5 years ago ao I don't remember for sure.

sixty-nine · Nov 5, 2006

i actually have the tool to do just that. let me know and we could meet up some time

Bunk1 · Nov 5, 2006

Get a rope.

leadfoot067 · Nov 5, 2006

Bunk said:
Get a rope.

you beat me to it:flipoff:

bobbed_84_toy · Nov 5, 2006

I tried using air but that didn't work. Stuffed 15 feet of 1/4 inch rope in the cylinder but could not get the damn keepers to actually release from the spring retainer. Beat on it with a hammer and tried compressing the spring and pulling up on the valve but it wouldn't let go.

I'm going to pull both heads, gasket match the ports on the heads and intake, blend the bowls, lap the valves, put new seals in it along with some different springs. Although I still find it hard to believe that a 4x4 cam is too much for the stock springs since it does not have a lot of lift:wtf:

At least I'll be getting some more power out of this :stirpot: Not that it really needs anymore:corn:

mthompson223 · Nov 5, 2006

I use one of these for fixing broken valve springs or replacing stem seals with the head on the vehicle.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/LIS-36200.html

bobbed_84_toy · Nov 5, 2006

mthompson223 said:
I use one of these for fixing broken valve springs or replacing stem seals with the head on the vehicle.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/LIS-36200.html

I'll go ahead and order one of those suckers since it probably won't be the last time I break a valve spring lol. But I all ready had headgaskets and exhaust gaskets for it so I'm just going to go ahead and pull the heads and do all the port work and rebuild them. I'll have more peace of mind this way too since I shouldn't have to worry about breaking another spring...plus more power! :cheer: :cheer:

mthompson223 · Nov 6, 2006

That tool doesn't come with instructions for use. You just use the grey part for removing the valve keepers and put the black part in the other half for installing them. You just hit it with a hammer and bada bing, removed. Installing can sometimes be done with a hammer too, but sometimes takes more finesse.

bobbed_84_toy · Nov 7, 2006

Got the new spring in today. Ended up changing it without pulling the head. Made my own tool that bolts where the rocker bolts then you can compress the spring down and shoved the string in the cylinder to keep the valve from dropping in. Back to 8 cylinders!:clappy: :cheer:

To celebrate I went out and got her stuck lol:redneck: