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Replacing 1953 331ci valve stem oil seals

Started by rustytractor, August 14, 2017, 07:25:38 AM

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rustytractor

This is a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted but I'm intrigued about how much impact replacing the valve stem seals has on a 331 engine.

I've had my '53 Convertible for 30 years and rebuilt the engine 25 years ago. It runs great but over the past few years I've noticed it's getting a bit puffy on warm starts and tends to foul up the front plug on the passenger side and third from the front on the drivers side which, I assume, is down to valve guide and stem oil seal wear. This only really happens with slow town driving, not on fast runs.

At the moment I need the car running ok but have enough cars in pieces to not want to strip down another engine so decided to replace the seals with the heads in place. Without special tool this took a bit of inginuity but ultimately was an easy job. Sadly the weather has been crap since completion so I haven't been able to have the car out to properly test it but I have a couple of questions.

The seals that came out were hard and quite brittle, some we're broken although they may have been damaged as part of the valve spring removal process. The seals that came out appeared to have a square profile (like Chevy seals) whereas the seals that came in the gasket set had a rounded profile (like small ring donuts). Maybe whoever rebuilt the engine for me all those years ago used Chevy seals ?

The valve guides have wear, nothing terrible but wear nevertheless so the question is can I expect replacing the seals alone to make any significant improvement on the problem I'm having ?

Ultimately I know I'll have to pull the heads and will have hardened valve seats and new guides fitted - I'm just trying to buy a little time as I have a few imminent wedding jobs booked.
Too many cars - too little time !!

Dave Shepherd

Normally only the intakes will draw oil into the combustion chamber, and at higher speeds when decelerating. When you do the heads at some time only the exhaust require hardened seats. Also you can have the guides machined for modern PC seals that fit on the guide. If you can, I would do a leak down test on the suspect cylinders, may not be the seals or guides.

dplotkin

 Years ago I bought a high mileage 440 equipped 68 New Yorker that never ran right, fouled its plugs, puffed heavily on starts, until I replaced the valve stem seals which can always be done on any 90 degree cast iron pushrod V8 I know of, pressurize the spark hole to keep the valve up and replace the seals. A 1st gen Caddy OHV motor is no different. It was the best single repair I made on that Chrysler on which I've put over 25,000 miles since.

Dan
56 Fleetwood Sixty Special (Starlight silver over Dawn Grey)
60 Buick Electra six window
60 Chrysler 300 F Coupe
61 Plymouth Savoy Ram Inducted 413 Superstock
62 Pontiac Bonneville Vista
63 Chevy Impala convertable
63 Ford Galaxie XL fastback
65 Corvette convertable 396
68 Chrysler New Yorker