Jay, thank you for the loan of this tool. We just completed a bench (head off, on a bench, that is) valve stem seal replacement on an 8-valve 2.6l cylinder head that we pulled off a junk engine from inventory. The janky seals on it were weird looking and half of them were damaged from age. The new ones are the metal encased Viton seals that seem to come with every valve cover gasket set I ordered in the past but never knew how to replace. The tool made it simple. Just don't be afraid to ********** 'em. When reinstalling the springs/retainers/keepers, it may be helpful (again, on a bench) to stuff a wad of paper towels under the valve you are working on to keep the stem as high as possible.
I soaked the new stem seals in quality motor oil for days until we rounded up the wagons and decided to attempt this. Both Jorge and I did some, just so we could get the feel for it; of course HoseB just watched and asked questions like "What are valves for?"
This head will be installed on Jorge's '85 Montero ($400) that smokes like a Kansas City BBQ challenge (after the mighty 2.6 warms up and idles for a few minutes...hey, no mosquitoes). We're going to try grinding off some of the old head bolts instead of buying new ones, plus I have a tap for the block threads that I've always used when replacing a head, not to mention the acetone and loads of cleaning I am trying to get these guys to accept as routine for this job. We have a regular Fel-Pro head gasket instead of a turbo one, but it has been debated that the non-turbo gasket may be more forgiving to irregular surface sealing. I won't try to debate that; it's what we have here at the 14th St Corral.
Anyway, thanks again, Jay. We're probably going to use this tool a couple of more times on some 3.0 V-6's, then send it back...or order you a new one!
John B.
