valve removal

[51merc]

pardon me for asking everytime i hit a bump in the road, but....

the manual describes removal of valves basically as follows:

"...pry guide downward," (apparently pulling it down out of the block a bit,) "until the guide retainer can be removed. a wire hook should be used in removing the retainer."

then to "...pry guide upward," (apparently pushing it out of the top of the block)," and lift out the valve assesmbly"....apparently only minus the guide retainer. then of course the entire valve assembly can be dismantled.

now i've also found some other hands on suggestions (from this forum and others) to compress the spring, upwards from the bottom of the valve, and pop out the valve retainer keys, which are 2 pieces in the manual. however, my '51 merc valve retainer keys are one-piece, so is there anyway to get them off of the bottom of the valve, while still in the block?

if i can get the valve assembly out, from the top, then i can use a socket or something similar to tap the valve guide down thru the bottom of the block, or at least to maybe free them up and get them out

i don't have a "pickle fork" compressor bar, and i do see how the need for one will necessitate ordering one, and i'm gonna, but...i've been using pry bars in an attempt to catch hold of the guides and pry them down, but it don't wanna hold good enough.

[CarPapa]

Just finished the same process on a 59A engine. I had the most success by removing the retainer clip, then lightly tapping the valve up as high as it would go. This leaves a large enough opening between the bottom of the valve head and the top of the block to allow for the insertion of a thin punch. I could then tap the valve guides down from the top. Of course, you want to be careful not to mar the sides of the valve ports, so go slow. Having the valve raised as high as it would go also facilitated spraying lubricant in on top of the valve guides.

[rotorwrench]

There were all sorts of tools made to pull the horseshoe retainers out and near all of them require some heavy elbow grease by whacking them out or prying them out. The guides will be stuck if they have been there a long time. If the all the valves function, there are tools that can be worked under the valve to whack the guides loose.

If you have the rotator valves that came to use in 1951, you still have two keepers in there but the rotators look like one big key untill you get it to move. With a valve compressor that fits into a flathead valley, you should be able to get the keepers out.

Kerby

PS: Unless you have the old style mushroom tipped valves with two piece guides in there, You have two keepers. Those type valve set ups were never installed in the 8BA types unless someone put them in there later. The 8BA types either had the non-rotators(singel retainer) with two keepers or the two part rotator spring retainers with two keepers.

[Vergil]

post on your same question at http://flatheadv8.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1847

Vergil

[ford1]

get the valve guide tool from speedway its the only tool that will fit the groves in the valve guide to pull it down, even with it it can be almost imposiple to remove the guide and valve together, there is a tool that looks like the bent leg part of an h, it slips along side of the valve when it is fully open, you can then hit the top of the tool and drive the guide down to remove the retaniner, and hopefully break the guide loose so yu can remove it and the guide together out the top

[Russ/40]

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rotowrench hit the nail on the head. Your rotating valves have two piece keepers exactly like earlier blocks, just the extra cone like piece was added to allow the valves to rotate.

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by 51merc

pardon me for asking everytime i hit a bump in the road, but....

now i've also found some other hands on suggestions (from this forum and others) to compress the spring, upwards from the bottom of the valve, and pop out the valve retainer keys, which are 2 pieces in the manual. however, my '51 merc valve retainer keys are one-piece, so is there anyway to get them off of the bottom of the valve, while still in the block?

if i can get the valve assembly out, from the top, then i can use a socket or something similar to tap the valve guide down thru the bottom of the block, or at least to maybe free them up and get them out

i don't have a "pickle fork" compressor bar, and i do see how the need for one will necessitate ordering one, and i'm gonna, but...i've been using pry bars in an attempt to catch hold of the guides and pry them down, but it don't wanna hold good enough.

The retainer is one piece but the KEYS are two piece and have to be removed. Once the keys are removed the valves and the springs can be removed by any method necessary, then drive guides down as you mentioned.

[51merc]

okay, didn't realize the keys were up in the sleeves. took some rigging of the spring compression tool i had but....4 down, 12 to go. then on to the pistons.
thanks for all the info.

[Gumpy]

51 merc do you have any pictures of the engine you are working on...thanks