I think the rope trick is a factory procedure for some Ford Escorts. I was going to do this for my Civic when I did the timing belt, so I could loosen the crank pulley, but since the CVCC engines have the pre-chamber, it won't work. Only will work on engines where the spark plug is directly in the combustion chamber.

By Zippy (Zippy) (12.106.14.107) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 06:48 am:

Thanks, but I actually can't take credit for it. Someone else on the board suggested it a few years ago.

By Mike S. (202.12.144.21) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 08:32 pm:

Zippy,

Neat trick & much more convenient (& cheaper) than a compressor.

MS

By Andrew Fatseas (203.63.44.193) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 06:05 pm:

Thanks for the hints guys. I might just do the Civic rope trick this weekend.

If you're interested, the actual name of the tool used to remove the spring is an Overhead Valve Spring Compressor (as opposed to just valve spring compressor).

Cheers,

Andrew

By Dave (209.226.249.167) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 02:10 pm:

Now there is a good back yard mechanic tip!

By Hugh Johnson (Oneson1) (144.138.198.40) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:48 am:

zippy is correct. use nylon rope, stuff it in with a stick and compress the buggary out of it,works a treat!!

By Zippy (Zippy) (12.106.14.107) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 06:33 am:

Instead of using air to hold the valve how about this: remove the sparkplug, rotate the engine so the piston is down, shove a long rope into the cylinder until you can't get any more in and then rotate the engie to squeeze the rope tangle tight against the valve. Now you can remove the springs and not have to stress at all. Be sure to leave a bit of rope sticking out of the spark plug hole you you can remove the rope later.

By Andrew Fatseas (203.63.44.193) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 09:39 pm:

Thanks Mike, will check it out...

By Mike S. (202.12.144.21) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 07:44 pm:

Correct. Could also use compressed nitrogen from a cylinder.

MS

By Andrew Fatseas (203.63.44.193) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 07:07 pm:

I assume that the compressed air is to prevent the valve from dropping down into the cylinder?

By Mike S. (202.12.144.21) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 06:48 pm:

Andrew,

Have seen it done, but never done it myself.

There is a type of valve spring compressor you can get which actually compresses the valve spring from both ends (rather than pushing the spring against the spring seat which requires access to the valve head). Have seen one on the shelf at Autobarn (just the other week) - so they can't be too obscure. They look like a miniaturised verion of some suspension coil spring compressors.

You also need a source of compressed air (compressor) and suitable adpaters to be able to pressurise the cylinder via the spark plug hole.

I'm sure you can figure the rest out.

Hope this helps

cheers

MS

By Andrew Fatseas (203.63.44.193) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 05:49 pm:

While doing some work on my EN1 motor last night in preparation for a transplant into another car, I noticed that one of the inner valve springs has snapped in two (so much for 'Mugen spec' valve springs).

The question is, how do you remove the retaining cap and collets without taking the head off? I know it can be done as I've heard it discussed before, and I don't want to remove the head as the motor has a brand new Honda head gasket (bloody expensive) and so far is beautifully sealed.