valve stem seals......

[prowler]

My 77 LeBaron has been through a lot of rebuilding. Last item was to replace original valve stem seals. 146,000 miles on engine but still ran very well but went through plugs rather quickly. I did the job while heads on engine in car. I used one of those Kryptonian finger tools that collapses the valve spring then remove keepers with a magnet. Shoved 1/4" rope into the cylinders and turned engine over until rope contacted bottom of valves. Found 7 spit in two seals while the rest were cracked and rock hard. Took a while to get used to tool as there was a procedure in order to make sure the tool collapsed the spring enough to get keepers out. Cylinder 7 was the biggest issue as the brake booster interfered using tool so I had to come up with a fix. Made a plate that bolted between the rocker shaft stands, then used a tool that was for a small block Chevy. It worked! I was going to leave that one but glad I didn't as it was one of the split in two seals. All seals replaced as well as fresh paint on valve covers. Gave me a bit of grief starting as the removed rockers took all the preload off lifters. BUT,....finally fired up, no puff out of exhaust and ran great !!! With the exception of rebuilding the engine every thing else, drive train wise, gone through. I wouldn't say the job was the easiest but one of those, "take your time" jobs.

 

[Hayzoos]

I learned my auto mechanicing from my dad on full size cars of the 60's & 70's. Almost never had an issue with clearance to get things done. Mid-size and compact stuffed things tighter. Now, they just build them not easy to work on.

Any trouble getting the seals out? Any bits falling off? I never replaced seals old enough that hardened.

 

[prowler]

There were seals that were spilt in half that were in pieces as well. Once the springs were removed the seals that were still on the stems, lifted right off due to there hardened and split condition. They were the original 77 seals. I knew they'd been leaking for some time.