davev 1 Posted July 20, 2006 hi all, i run into a little problem with my valve seals on a 1.9 8valve. it all come off sweet enough but when i tried putting the new stem seals on they just ripped apart. seems like they are to small(the stem peals the rubber off the inside of the seal), does anyone know if there are 2 sizes, or what the orignal size is as they do look suprisingly clean and someone has tried some diy porting work around them(try and post pics at weekend). ill check what size mine are at the weekend with a vernier. cheers. dave. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PumaRacing 2 Posted July 21, 2006 The factory valve guides sometimes have sharp square edges on the top rather than chamfered or radiused ones. This makes it almost impossible to fit stem seals without the rubber inside them getting chewed up. A stupid design cock up at the factory although why some are ok and others not I don't know. I always fully radius the tops of new guides on the lathe before fitting them to ensure the stem seals go on easily. You could do the same easily enough with a file and the guides in a drill chuck if they were out of the head. With the guides in place there's not much you can do apart from try and get down there and scrape the edges off a bit with a small file. If the guides have to come out to be modified and go back in or get replaced with new ones all the valve seats will need recutting though so not a simple job anymore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
205_sunderland 4 Posted July 21, 2006 try and get a recessed emery paper tool for a drill, kinda like the opposite to a counter sink so you place it over the top and it adds a chamfer as you apply pressure, lathe would be ideal thou but i have the same problem as i only have access to a lathe a work and they dont like fiddle jobs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davev 1 Posted July 21, 2006 (edited) cheers. so if they where replaced would they still be the same size? or slightly bigger. it seems that the seals are literally being ripped apart because when putting them on everything feels ok(nice and tight) until i look at the seal, then u can see the rubber pealing out. only leaves a thin(paper) piece of rubber on the inside. anyway i'll see if i can round the edges off as im gonna try and finish off the crap porting work someone has done to it. i mean someone has just put a dremal down where the valve face is and took ground a bit of the wall furthest away from the inlet manifold. that was meant to be a pic showing where but i can't work it.doh. Edited July 21, 2006 by davev Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davev 1 Posted July 29, 2006 ahhhhhh. finished off the diy porting and rounded the edges of the valve stems. came to fitting the seals, and first one sweet as. then the second decided to eat the seal again, rounded the edges some more and number 2 goes on. then the same happens to number 3, so i round them a tad more and they seem to be going on. didnt realise how much u have to round them. only problem is now i dont have enough stem seals to finish the head. and i wanna get it sorted this weekend so it'll be ready for curbourgh. so if anyone local has any spare stem seals floating around, that i could come and pick up tommorrow morning(ish) i'll gladly drop off some bear tokens. cheers. dave. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davev 1 Posted July 30, 2006 surly someone has a set of stem seals that they dont need. i'd even come and collect these off you, so no hassle for you. its just that i want to try and get this engine started today if poss so i can make sure everything is running well. please help! cheers. dave. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
