Originally Posted by Braineack

yes, without the whacking.

Originally Posted by m2cupcar

Ferdi dropped off his BluePoint valve tool and I got busy. It took some time to figure out what worked best and then things started to move along. The worst part was the height of the car- on the ground was too low and on the jack stands at the lowest point was too high. I ended up with it on the stands as the lesser evil of the two. But it really hurt the leverage of installing the retainer/keepers. Ramps would probably be ideal for a Miata... for my size/height.

The original seals were shot- most of them left half their insides stuck on the guides, which meant I had to scrape the stuff off with a dental pick. PITA. The approach that worked best for me was using a hammer to disassemble and hands with a firm press to install. But you can see from the video it does take a persuasive smack with the hammer to get the job done. The install requires a good firm jaunt - I used one hand to guide/maintain approach angle and the other for the press. Rear cylinders are worse partly because of the hood- but I was hesitant to remove the hood given the soft fresh paint.

After rolling the number 1 piston to tdc, I used a compression gauge hose with the internal valve removed to hold the valves shut with the compressed air. I used about 75psi. Make absolutely sure you have a wrench on the crank bolt and have it fixed to something so it can't move. Otherwise you'll watch your pistons go up and down- I kid you not, it doesn't take much air to rotate the engine. After number 1, move to number 4 since it's already at TDC, then go to the middle cylinders.

I recommend buying a valve seal removal tool. This is the second time I've done this w/o one and it is the worst part of the job. I manage to make an SST that worked out nicely, but probably not nearly as good as a tool designed for the job.

Most critical things to consider when using this tool:

• Face of the tool needs to seat on the retainer square up, in line with the valve stem so force is exerted evenly across the retainer. This also avoids hitting the lifter walls with the tool.
• The force of the hammer hit is going to be harder than you'd think.
• On installation, leverage is your friend. Get the cylinder head height right where you need it to get your torso weight into the pressing action.

Originally Posted by timg

What have you guys used to remove the seals themselves? My reading seems to indicate you shouldn't use standard pliers as they are likely to scratch the bores/valve stems?