Valve spring seat and seal tooling

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Dragonbat13

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I seem to have magnum heads coming out my ears, and I wanted to mess around with cutting spring pockets and valve seal location.

I have been looking at a few different things, and for the costs it seems that its something I would want to try.

What is the best spring seat OD to start off with considering magnum and EQ heads? IIRC 1.55 OD cutter would work with the heads and allow a much greater selection of springs.

Can all this be done with a bench top drill press?

In other words, what all should I be looking at to modify the spring side of the cylinder head with a cheap bench press?

I am interested in better spring selection, increasing retainer to seal clearance, and reaming tight valve guides. With a benchtop drill press and hand tools.

Considering 500 dollars in tools.

Here are the measuring tools I have already (that I can think of).
Dial bore gauge for measuring cylinder diameter.
1 inch outside mic.
metric and standard dial caliper (cheap ones, but I dont use those for much more than general measuring of stuff).
6 inch outside mic, that I mostly use for zeroing the dial bore gauge.
Graduated burrett with stand for CCing heads.
Spring compressor
Tap and Die set
 
Yes, it can be done. I wouldn't bother myself tho and I have a Petersen TCM-25 in my garage. Those operations cost nothing with the process of doing a valve job on any head so I'd just have the shop take care of it while they were there, on better equipment. You'll also need the right arbor. The drill's speed needs to be variable to slow it down, and it should probably be a larger drill press - something with some mass to the drill head. Not the hobbyist wood worker ones Craftsman sells. Otherwise you may get chatter. Also be aware that magnum heads do not take well to deepening the spring pockets.
 
You can get an off the shelf spring/loc and retainer kit for $159 that is "bolt on" and will allow you to run up to .550" lift assuming you trim a bit off guides when they do a valve job. Seems like you are spending $$$ to try and reinvent the wheel, possibly destroying heads in process. A harbor freight drill press will not do a good job with a 1.5" pocket cutter like moper said, they are meant to be used with industrial quality press or mil. Without a tilting table it will be damn near impossible to get angle correct as well.
 
I know of shops that have national records and many championship winning engines and they do spring seats with a hand drill! I've seen a few that machine the guides for seals with a hand drill.

It ain't rocket surgery.
 
Generally speakin, you can get ALL the sprAng you will ever need going to the big block diameter. That's the 1.55 or so you mentioned.

Also, I would never in a MILLION years machine the spring pocket DOWN into the head more. That area is usually very thin in regards to the water jacket. Might be bad news. lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
Generally speakin, you can get ALL the sprAng you will ever need going to the big block diameter. That's the 1.55 or so you mentioned.

Also, I would never in a MILLION years machine the spring pocket DOWN into the head more. That area is usually very thin in regards to the water jacket. Might be bad news. lol
Click to expand...

That's the ticket. Not wanting to increase the installed length or anything like that. Just getting away from the odd size. Heck, I may even shim the pocket then cut. I will have to do some measuring on that end first.

One tool I want to get is a valve spring micrometer. That way I could I could make more judgments on what to do next.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Generally speakin, you can get ALL the sprAng you will ever need going to the big block diameter. That's the 1.55 or so you mentioned.

Also, I would never in a MILLION years machine the spring pocket DOWN into the head more. That area is usually very thin in regards to the water jacket. Might be bad news. lol
Click to expand...


Dammit RRR I should have been more concise about that. Never EVER go deeper on the valve spring pocket. It will usually break trough the intake port first but you can hit water too. And by hit the intake port I mean by going bigger in diameter and deeper at the same time. If you just go deeper you will hit water first.

Thanks for pulling my chestnuts out of the fire on that one RRR.

Wouldn't want some one holing a head becaus I wasn't clear.
 
I know a guy that fervently believes in unicorns. Doesn't make them real. If you know record holders using hand drills they must be in the Briggs classes... Sorry YR. Wrong answer.
 
yellow rose said:
Dammit RRR I should have been more concise about that. Never EVER go deeper on the valve spring pocket. It will usually break trough the intake port first but you can hit water too. And by hit the intake port I mean by going bigger in diameter and deeper at the same time. If you just go deeper you will hit water first.

Thanks for pulling my chestnuts out of the fire on that one RRR.

Wouldn't want some one holing a head becaus I wasn't clear.
Click to expand...

Unbelievably, I have been argued TO DEATH on that issue right here on this very forum. It's just not a correct thing to do. And like most everything else, you cannot tell anyone anything once they make upi their mind they are right. lol

That said, I've even used a hand held drill with the proper tool to enlarge spring pockets and machine guides. As long as the guides are in good shape and can hold the arbor, you can do it just fine. Cut a little, measure, cut a little measure. I've done a lot of them like that.
 
yellow rose said:
I know of shops that have national records and many championship winning engines and they do spring seats with a hand drill! I've seen a few that machine the guides for seals with a hand drill.

It ain't rocket surgery.
Click to expand...

No, it's not. And it can be done effectively with a hand drill......in fact, that's the ONLY way I've ever done it. lol
 
moper said:
I know a guy that fervently believes in unicorns. Doesn't make them real. If you know record holders using hand drills they must be in the Briggs classes... Sorry YR. Wrong answer.
Click to expand...


Why would I make that up.

100% for real. I've had to do it a few times by hand, but I prefer to do it in the seat and guide machine. The pilot centers the cutter in the guide.

Again, it ain't rocket surgery.
 
I cut guides down with a hand drill all the time.
A cheap spring height tool is an 1/8" rod cut to proper length. After you measure a few you can pretty much much tell what shim to use.
 
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