I made a mistake with my head, requiring me to replace my valve stem seals again (it wasn't a big deal.) I decided to remove the valves so as to protect them while replacing the seals, so I whipped out this thing and ruined a perfectly good set of BC +1mm over sized valves:

http://rosemountata.com/filehosting/tool.jpg
This is made by Lisle

Several of them are bent, and I didn't have the presence of mind to just cut the top half off before trying to remove it so I also scraped several of my guides.

$280 plus shipping for the new valves
$80 for the valve seals (which is what I realized I screwed up in the first place)
And God only knows how much more the machine shop is going to want for the new guides (FOR THE SECOND TIME)

That's a f**king expensive lesson. I'll never learn that again I swear.

The best part is that I called BC and they said that they would not have more valves for several months yet, so I'm not going to get done with this till spring or mid-summer no doubt.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*K!!!

isn't that the tool that one of the big guys recommeneded? i think it is greg v?

i see guys use that all day long in my nissan/subaru shop without issue.:confused:

I've used that tool to install BC springs and while I didn't really like the hit & miss nature of it, I don't understand how you bent your valves while using it.

C

that sucks

sounds like user error. I've used those for years and never had a problem.

buy some supertech valves for $70 more then the stupid BC valves. With supertech you are getting an inconel axhaust valve and a black nitride coated intake valve.

May I suggest since you are having to use new guides anyway, get the 6mm stem exh valves and guides. They will save alot of reciprocating weight and will handle the heat just fine, they are inconel.

Mazworx uses the 6mm exh stem for 1000whp, I think you will be fine.

Good luck and sorry to hear it, but do yourself a favor, get the supertech's and JWT guides and be done with it sooner then with the stupid BC's, $70 aint ish for a way better valve.

Yeah, I used that tool with no issues. I did use the old rope in the cylinder trick to back the valves so maybe the cushion of the rope was enough to prevent valve bending? The design of that tool, though, pretty much prevents any axial force on the valve itself unless you have the angle wrong as the stem should recess up into the handle under spring pressure. Definitely no bending force. Did you bend them removing the old retainers or installing the new ones?

If you used compressed air to back your valves, there's even less to NO chance of bending your valve stems, ESPECIALLY above the head. I can imagine MAYBE bending them below the head if you slammed a piston crown, but that wouldn't trash a guide as it'd still be straight on the way out...

It does take some "art" to getting the right angle and impact to get it on the first try, but it's by no means a bad tool if used right (IMHO). You just have to be 100% sure that you're whacking the tool dead square to the axis of the valve stem.

Sorry to hear about your issues though. Hope you get back on the road soon!

_SHig

Well, I'm not sure what went wrong, but it seems to me like operator error is almost impossible - you put the thing over the valves and it it with a hammer. The only way you can mess that up is to hit it WAY too hard, and on several occasions, I didn't hit it hard enough, so I know I wasn't hitting it too hard.

In any event, the sales rep at BC pulled some strings and called me back and told me he could ship the valves tomorrow. :D THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD

I think I kinda freaked him out though cause when he told me that, I told him that if he had tits I would kiss him. The girlfriend didn't find it amusing when I told her either lol

Was the head on the car, or off? I've used it on a QR25 head, and it worked great. Sounds like user error to me.

<--
wondering about the quality of those valves.

I used it on my de head and it was hit or miss alot. I would have the head off if I were u when doing it. I dropped a valve when doing mine.

Matt

Yeah the head was off the car when I was doing it
The valves were perfect before I did this.

Aha - sounds like you dun smashed those puppies into your work bench.

C

Aha - sounds like you dun smashed those puppies into your work bench.

C

Still hard to believe that he bent them ABOVE the guides. Maybe he mushroomed the ends of the valves causing the gouging going out. I had a smidge of mushrooming on the ends before I got the "touch". I had to hit the tips with a file before I could get them to drop smoothly...

_SHig

Actually I wadded a little bit of heavy-gauge cardboard-like paper into the combustion chamber before doing it to cushion the valves. SHOULD have been enough to keep them from being damaged, but I guess not. I think I did indeed mushroom and/or bend the tops of the valves with that stupid tool. Oh well, lesson learned. Snap-on FTW!

Aha - sounds like you dun smashed those puppies into your work bench.

C

Ding, ding, ding. With the head off the engine, you don't need that tool. The valve spring compressor that holds the valve from the bottom will do the trick. So it ends up that it was user error, not the tool that was at fault.

Yeah the head was off the car when I was doing it
The valves were perfect before I did this.

ive used this tool before, without any issues aswell. but if the head was off the motor, why would you use this tool?

Ding, ding, ding. With the head off the engine, you don't need that tool. The valve spring compressor that holds the valve from the bottom will do the trick. So it ends up that it was user error, not the tool that was at fault.

No you didn't look at my last post. I put padding under the combustion chamber. If I smashed them into the work bench, I would've bent the dish end of the valve, not the tip, due to the amount of leverage the bench would have on the valve.

ive used this tool before, without any issues aswell. but if the head was off the motor, why would you use this tool?

Cause it was easier.

Cause it was easier.

you must not have used the other style tool, the one that goes around the head. like a big c clamp.