Hi Guys,

I was fitting the valves back into the cylinder head today after recuting the seats,I went to fit the new springs and found that they were tight going onto the guide boss Idont know whether thats the right word but the piece that holds the valve seal . On some of them I literally had to nearly screw the spring on.

Has anybody ever come across this, I tried the old springs and they were. all loose.

Question is are they safe and wil they function properly? I also have another Question for you concerning valve spring height how important is it to get it right ,It will be a completely stock 292 and how does it affect running?

I would be completely lost without this site and all your knowledge Thanks again,

Ken Whelan.

Ken

Are you sure you got the right springs? Compare them to the old ones.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

Hi Kenneth

I got them off dennis Carpenter they look the same some fit but others are tight I was wondering would it be safe to use?

Just worried about them Because I live in Ireland they are not available here I wll have to order more and it takes a couple of weeks I was wondering if anybody came across the same problem?

Thanks for replying,

Ken Whelan.

Ken

They shouldn't be tight.

The spring height is somewhat important. If they are not the same height, then the spring pressures will vary. Some will be lighter than others. It probably won't be much concern on a stock engine but it's so easy to check and set that it's worth the time to make sure it's right in my opinion. Then if there are any problems once it's running, you can be reasonably sure that the springs are not the cause. Are spring shims readily available near you?


Lawrenceville, GA

Ken, sounds like they sent you 289-302 springs. They look the same but are slightly smaller.

Not good.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Ken: There's usually part#s on the box, use it to check back here or with D. Carpenter.

Paul

The springs must fit freely around the guide bosses.  If they are tight, then other problems can surface when trying to run the engine.  I’m assuming your springs do not have the flat damper spring coiled within the outer spring?  Outer springs that include internal dampening springs are typically a problem on the Y heads without some additional machine work.  As has already been brought up, you may simply have the wrong valve springs.  Having a local shop looking at what you have to insure that you don’t have some mismatched parts would be advisable.  Inadequate or too much valve spring pressure along with potential coil bind is also something else to watch for when simply replacing the springs.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Something not mentioned yet.Have the old ones checked for pressure compressed against the specs.They can be shimmed to bring within specs if not too bad.Could save waiting for replacements as it sounds like you received wrong ones.

  

I don't know how other engine builders feel but I'm not one to use old springs over with shims, they have time and heat on them and it is just too easy to install new ones at rebuild time.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Tim! I agree but based on his location it was a suggestion.