valves and springs

nos14 · Post by **nos14** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 10:18 am

How do I remove and reattatch lash caps? Also when presurizing the chamber for spring removal how much psi?

Cheers
Joshua

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 10:36 am

I have a "lash cap" puller. It grabs the lash cap and has a small slide hammer as part of it. To reinstall, just put them on and use a brass hammer to drive them home.

Post by **Marc** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 11:28 am

The Berg puller is over $60 but if you do this more than once or twice you'll wish you had one. A "backyard" alternative that works most of the time is to remove the keepers and pop the retainer (put a socket over it and strike with a hammer) - if you're lucky the valvespring will take the cap off. Stuff lintfree rags in the pushrod tubes while doing this work (and if you put a rag over the cap before popping the retainer the rag'll get ruined but there'll be less chance of losing the cap). If you're determined you can often wiggle the cap off by prying with a couple screwdrivers against the retainer, too (not pretty on soft retainers). Next time I need to do this without a proper puller I'm going to try making a tool, possibly out of an old beercan opener, that'll straddle the stem under the cap and let me lever it against the retainer.
How much pressure? The more the better, hopefully you have at least 100psi available. An alternate method is to feed a few feet of nylon rope into the plugholeat BDC and bring the piston up against it to hold the valve shut. Not desirable when the valve angle doesn't match the piston's (like on an ACVW with no notches) but it does work.