Valve Removal Question

[e30nut]

Gruppe:

Got a fancy new valve spring compressor, and I'm about to tear into a head rebuild/swap on my broke 91 318is. Frankenstein job, one cracked head w/good cams/valves and one recently rebuilt head that valves crashed when timing chain broke last summer.

Question: any trick to removing valve retainers that I should know about? I can certainly practice on the crashed head, but I want to be real careful not to mar the seats/guides, and conversely the on cracked head, not to damage the stems. Anyone BTDT?

Cheers!
John Grills
NCC-BMWCCA

[E30nate]

it should be pretty straight forward. just make sure you have the tool centered on the retainer so it doesnt slip off and shoot the spring.