Maye OT: spring compressor

[Jules]

I sympathise - I'm trying to think of a similar way to avoid buying a valve spring compressor so I can do the valve seals on an engine... I think I can probably make something (but probably wouldn't fancy that for large suspension springs)

Only car I've done this on had much of the back axle / suspension on its own subframe - so technically it would have been possible to just loosen and drop the subframe a little (which in turn would drop the lower spring seat and allow the springs to be pulled out). I was actually taking the whole subframe out as I needed to do some driveshaft work and a seal on the diff, but it would have worked just for springs. Whether the Golf is like this, I've no idea...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Some say pushing rope down the plug hole with the piston just before TDC on the compression stroke, then turning it to TDC or so will hold the valves closed so you can release the spring and change a seal. Never tried it myself, though. I've got a couple of valve spring compressors.

[Cash]

Steve,

just made another "special tool" that will sit in the tool box now unused for several years.

I need a 2" straight fitch paintbrush to paint behind some gutters today, but all the decorators merchants are shut, so I had the "bright" idea to use one of the "sheds" thinking that I could pick one up nice and easy - wrong!

I ended up buying a 2" bent, plastic handled flat radiator brush for the extortionate sum of £1.99 - and after retreating to my dry, secure garage-come-workshop complete with mains power I applied a bit of gentle heat (from a bloody great propane burner) and straightened the handle out - and it did a fantastic job of getting into the places where other brushes couldn't reach - without scraping the (very) old knuckles and covering the gutter in paint.

Moral here - not all bodges lead to personal damage and are sometimes necessary to get the job done when all else fails.

BTW, after fitting a load of plastic eaves trays last year, taking the gutter off to paint the fascia was not an option this time (as I normally would have in the past) as it's too "fiddly" for me to 'hook' it under the eaves trays when replacing.

Cash,

In a rather flippant mood today - it must be the bloody great painkillers I've had to take to relieve the complaints of the old aching joints. LOL

[munki]

>>

Thanks Bob for the kind offer of a lend of your spring compressor. I'm a fair way from southampton but thanks anyway. *thumbs up*

(couldn't find the post as my news readers gone daft today lol)

[Bob Minchin]

>>>>>

OK Munki. Hope you get it sorted.

Bob

[Andy Champ]

Something like this has already been said - but if you're in East Berkshire you can borrow mine...

Andy

[Cash]

Works a treat Dave (sash cord was ideal for this) - especially on the engines of older vehicles where access is a lot easier and you don't want the cost of taking the head off. Don't forget though, that 'bodge' cannot be done on a side-valve engine! ;-)

And yes I have done it on Mini's, 1100's, Cortinas etc!

[Jules]

I'd heard similar* - using the rope to hold the valve in place whilst work is done - but I'm surprised that some sort of tool still isn't needed to compress the springs and get them on, even with the valve fully closed (i.e. the spring under least compression).

• also just using a piece of bent wire (coathanger etc.) through the plug hole.

As the engine in question's over 40 years old I keep getting tempted to pull the head anyway just to take a look inside and check things over - a head gasket set's not too expensive. I should probably stop procrastinating and just get on with it ;-)

cheers

Jules

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)" saying something like:

Yes, well I've done it on OHC Fords and it works like a charm. That was when I had the loan of a tool borrowed from my mate who worked at the local Ford dealership too. He told me the workshop-preferred method was the rope trick which I tried after the official tool turned out to be less than satisfactory. The other part of the kit was the spring compressor, which simply hooked under the OHC, iirc. The first engine I did like this, the first cylinder took me a bit of time, the remaining ones were a dawdle.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules saying something like:

Gerraway, yer tight bastard, they're only a few bucks and that's cheaper than squashing a finger or fishing a collet out of your eye. Remember the cost of medical attention where you are, it makes the cost of a decent tool v. cheap.

[Jules]

:P Yeah, I suspect I will - they're about $20 or so. I just can't find one locally. I suppose it will get used again, one day...

[Jules]

Interesting - this one's a Ford, albeit pushrod. I'm not sure how much space (if any) there is between piston crown and valves when at TDC...

[dennis]

I don't see what difference it makes. The springs are still compressed when the valve is closed. At best it will stop the valve falling down and may make it easier to refit the spring retainer. You will still have to compress the spring to refit it. I would have thought a couple of plastic wire ties were enough for valve springs but they may vary a lot from the Triumph ones I have worked on.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "dennis@home" saying something like:

That's the whole point of it.

Of course.

[Jules]

Oh, forgot to mention, but I've been told that feeding compressed air into the cylinder via the spark-plug hole works well too, and provides sufficient compression to just keep the valve in place - assuming the rings / bores aren't shot to hell, of course. I'm tempted to try that too, purely if it does inded work - but I want to check clearance between valve / piston first just to make sure that even if something does go wrong the valve isn't going to fall inside the engine ;)

To my surprise, I just found that one of the local generic parts places sells the valve seals that I need, even though the engine's 40 years old. It's one of the few benefits of US vehicle engineering being so backward that the technology hasn't really moved on in the last few decades, I suppose; there's probably a modern Ford out there still using the exact same seals :-)

cheers

Jules