No valve for you today

I thought I wanted to remove my valves and valve seats. To do that, I needed a spring compressor tool. These things come in lots of shapes and sizes. Some of them look like a bent fork and rely on having the rocker arms in place (or at least the studs). Some of them look like a giant C-clamp that connects on both sides of valve. They rely on the heads being off. Some of them look like the Recognizer from the movie Tron - with a screw on top and hooks down the side. They range in price from: free for loan at the autoparts store to this thing with umpteen parts for $75.

I was going to borrow the one from the parts store - but it gave me the willys. I looked at it several times and kept coming to the conclusion that I was going to hate using that tool or get injured in the process. Oreilly's and Autozone loan the screw-hook Tron thing, but the hooks are not well designed for gripping a heavy duty spring. I am sure with a hose clamp to secure it I could make it work but I didn't want to try.

So, like a moth to a flame - I bought the one at Harbor Freight that was on clearance. Also the Tron machine, but it happened to work well. I think I was lucky in that the spring diameter was just about right for the way the hook arms were shaped.

I carefully put in place and screwed down the top to compress the spring.

Notice how real life doesn't look very much like the shop manual? 

I was expecting that once the big flat retainer moved, the locks would be exposed and I would take them off with a magnetic pickup. Just like the manual says and just like YouTube said. Except I found another cup shaped retainer around the locks. I have a 2-piece spring retainer. I was not aware that was a thing. And - of course - burnt oil or crud is keeping it stuck to the locks. I need do it again and gently tap the inner retainer with a screw driver until it falls down.

'GENTLY' he reminds himself. While the Harbor Freight thing worked well, it is a lot of pressure and I still don't want to get slammed in the face when the tool slips and flies off at 100 mph. I see why people buy the C-clamp or rocker stud kind.

Maybe I can find a washer that is just the right size to catch the press fingers on the outside and the inner retainer but not the locks on the inside. That shouldn't take me more than a couple hours at the hardware store.

The deeper I go, the more I think about a remanufactured 390FE replacement. Wondering if there is a 292 Y-block guy in WA or OR that just has to have these parts? Ah neurotic second guessing - so nice to see you again.