Valve stem seals
 

Hey guys, just wanted to share my recent experience with replacing the valve stem seals.

Used the rope thru spark plug hole into cylinder trick, along with the Lisle 36050 valve keeper tool. First 8 seals worked flawlessly, was surprised how easy it was.......and then I went to pull the rope out of cyl 2 to move to cyl 3 and it was stuck! I thought one of the valves may have dropped a hair when I hit the tool and pinched the rope. So I threw the cams back on, rotated the lobes so all 4 valves were open. Rope still stuck.

Pulled the head😕 and it turns out the rope knotted itself inside. The harder I pulled, the tighter it got🤷‍♂️.

Anyways, just something to ponder if any of you run into this.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3d3de86257.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c6b6019dcb.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...edc5ac67b3.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8c3d573e8.jpg

How the hell did you do that?

That's even better than tying a cherry stem with your tongue, lol. Probably less impressive to chicks at the bar, though.

Hey guys, pulling out valves for cleaning, now that head is off and found a crack where one of the cam caps bolts to. Is this something of concern?? No idea how this happened.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c6457f91aa.jpg

Looks more than cracked to me. A piece has broken off and the corner is hangin by a car hair. I wouldn’t reuse the head if it were me.

Yes Turbomack, SHIT. That piece, depending on how big or small, may have gone down an oil passage I would think. FML. Oh well, time to pull the block too! Just finished my turbo build, and it was running great, besides smoke on decel.

Awh :( sad rope story. Even more sad about the cam carrier :(

Would not suggest running a nice turbo build with that either ;\ Looking close it really looks like a bad cast to begin with. Rather than something else causing that. But it may have slowly cracked open further over time. Which would guarantee it breaking off sooner or later.

Are you sure it wasn't already there? Is it a stock block? Or have you built it from bottom up?

May have been there, stock block. Yeah it's def. a casting defect. Just got back from machine shop. Guy said he wouldn't worry about it, if it ran fine before I pulled it. He inspected the threaded insert. It's solid, hasn't moved. Supposed to be a reputable shop. Idk

You need a new head. If anyone ever wants to do this type of work without removing the head use compressed air and do not use the Lisle tool to insert the keepers. The best tool to this work was the Keeper-Eeze tool, it was the only tool that would not ruin the keepers and lifter bores. Unfortunately they are out production because the engineer that designed and manufactured them got lazy.;)