Rope length for replacing valve springs.

This Bad Demon said

Good day everyone. I made a post a few weeks ago about valve sizes and valve springs. Welp the time has come that I'm ready to tackle the job. I'm planning to do the nylon rope trick and was wondering what's the consensus on length of rope to use? I don't have access to an air compressor.... . Thanks in advance for the help. Oh and the engine is a 360 with X heads on it.

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It depends on the rope size obviously.
I use 1/4 nylon and with the piston still down a ways I feed about 3 feet in, and then bring the piston up on the compression stroke until it stops.
This ensures there is enough rope in the cylinder to hold both valves securely closed and up so there will be zero drop when you take the springs off.

I hate fighting a valve that won’t stay all the way up.
Just getting the piston at tdc without the rope works, but the valves WILL drop a little making it a pain in *** to get the locks back in.