I’m still trying to figure out this valve spring bit. I looked at the other engine I have that has the stock springs and it looks the coils touch just about as much as mine do in some places. I have no idea if I’m okay with these springs or not.
I went ahead and turned the engine over a bit until I had a couple of valves in really close to their fully open position, that way I could judge it a little bit better. Nothing appears to touch anymore than it had, but I’m thinking things might be a little too close. Maybe. Basically, between some sets of adjacent coils, I have about 0.055” clearance. Others I have 0.025” or so. Recommendations from spring manufacturers and other online sources seem to say you want 0.060” clearance at a minimum to prevent coil bind. However, some say the 0.060” clearance should be the total clearance, meaning adjacent coils only need like 0.015” clearance. Others say the 0.060” clearance is for between each adjacent coil.
It seems like it’d be good to play it on the safe side and figure on the 0.060” between adjacent coils—and then that means I need new springs. I’ve been looking through catalogs, Summit, and Jegs pretty much all day trying to find some other single spring that’ll work without machining. I haven’t had a whole lot of luck too far. Most of the ones I’m finding have too low of a spring pressure, others coil bind too early, et cetera. The single springs with dampers are listed as needing Viton seals, which I’m pretty sure I don’t have. The dual springs also say they need Viton seals, though it looks like Teflon might be okay on those as well. I’ll keep looking and see what I find out.
little clearance
sure a little below max lift
And on a slightly better side of things: I got a box of stuff from NPD today. Heater core, mirror, motor mounts, door lock grommets, body plugs, cowl vent repair kit, heater seal kit, heater core end caps, parking brake handle, floor pan drain covers, and engine mount to shock tower bolts. Between that and everything else I’ve been keeping upstairs, there’s a decent pile of stuff in the living room.
