Slant Valve Seals

I used some cotton rope, fed it into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and then rotated the engine by hand until the rope was tight up against the valves. I fliped the rocker shaft over and used a small pipe wrench to compress the valve spring retainer to allow the valve keepers to be removed. Only one valve spring retainer went flying. Wear safety glasses! My seals wear petrified and just hard bits of black stone-like material. Also, it is a good idea to soak your rocker arms in some strong degreaser and clean out the oil drip holes that feed oil out to the tip of the rocker arm and cool and lubricate the valve.