Easiest way to get the springs/valves off head.

[Alpine TSi]

Yeah, I could imagine that it would suck if you were trying to replace valve seals with the head on the block and dropping a valve down inside a cylinder. Just think of having to take the head off just for one valve. That would really suck, I am glad that hasn't happened to me, just wish I could say it never happened to my car. LOL!

[Goat Blower]

You just have to make sure the piston is at TDC for the valves your are working on. Turn the crank 180 degrees and repeat, no dropped valves. Although to be able to put the springs and retainers back on, you'd need the valves completely closed for obvious reasons, hence the use of air or some rope down in the cylinder.

[john]

If you do not have compressed air, use the rope methode as Steve said. You just stick one end it the cylinder and stuff it in. Go as far as you can and leave the other end out so you can get it out (Captain Obvious says).

[Raptor]

Fuel line is a better option than rope, the separate fibers have been known to get stuck in the valves and cause problems. Rotating the crank as steve mentioned is a good safety measure however if you do that in combination with the compressed air, you will need to lock the crank in position, the compressed air will rotate the assembly and put the piston away from the valve again. One last thing to mention, no matter what method you use on or off the car, take a dead blow and a drift and smack each retainer to break them loose. If you skip this step, you will have a very difficult time getting the retainer/spring to compress and the valve to remain.

[Onefast99gsx]

Got the head off last night. Gonna take the valve and springs off next week when my spring compressor tools comes in.

Question: Is there any reason that i cannot reuse the valve stem seals or are they shot once you take the valves out?

[Goat Blower]

Don't go cheap on the seals unless you have almost new ones in there. They're only $30 or so for Mitsu ones.