Bill's Valve Spring Compressors
Bill Jones' Photo Gallery Page 22
Valve spring compressors that work excellent.
The blue SBC compressor
This is the first compressor I built back in the 1980's and it has been lengthened as can be seen from the welds.
-I don't remember ever seeing any compressors of this design when I built this one.
-I threaded the Destaco stem to 3/8-24 on this one
-The valve spring end of this compressor was a lot of work and I only did that type of end one time.
-I welded a large nut to the end of the handle for a much more positive grip.
The big chief compressor
When having to compress the huge springs like on big chief heads I had looked at several of the square tube compressors on the market---and I didn't particularly care for their adjustability which makes them flimsy--and I didn't care for the handles because they are generally too short for when doing the heavy valve springs.
So I built my own to fit a set of big chief heads I was working on.
-This is the gray compressor that has the small brass ball on the end of the handle.
-This ball is very important as that long handle is VERY slippery when pushing against about 800#------and without that knob my hand slipped off the handle and
that handle sprang back and wacked me on the inside of my bicep---bruised me up real bad-----and left an obvious bump as proof of the incident.
-I happened to have a couple of those knobs so that is what I used.
I can say that there is absolutely NO PROBLEM with this compressor breaking loose and compressing any valve springs currently in use.
-I'd dare say my wife could handle the stiffest of springs using this compressor.
The De-Sta-Co #624 cam lock
These cost about $20 and require a 1" threaded nut receptacle welded to the compressor frame----and then some sort of adjustable pressure pad to push against the valve head needs to be fabricated
-The inside of the camlock shank I think comes threaded 3/8-NC or maybe 5/16NC so I typically rethread to use something like a 3/8NF or maybe even a 7/16NFlong set screw and then thread up a pressure pad that screws on to the setscrew with loctite----then machine that pad nice and flat.
-That stem is easily removable for when rethreading it.
-I also make larger aluminum pads out of aluminum that may be different diameters and different thicknesses-----so that I only need to use about 3/8" of the
the set screw length for adjustment.
-Attaching the handle is usually done by drilling a hole thru the fabricated handle---thru thru the end of the Destaco handle---then using a roll pin and tackwelding it in place.
-The Destaco part is also real handy for making "on the head compressors" for various heads with either stud mounted rockers or shaft mounted rockers.
The purple compressor
-This was built specifically for doing 4 valve per cylinder Subarus--and the spring pressures are such that the simple Destaco handle is plenty adequate.
-This also works on about all other 4 valve per cylinder I've encountered.
The yellow compressor
-I can't even remember what I built this thing for---but I'm sure it's for a 4 valve per cylinder head---quite likely a Ford SHO V6 or something that the purple compressor wouldn't fit.
The valve spring ends are pretty well designed to fit and center up on the valve spring retainers real decent---so that end is secured about the circumference of the retainer---so you have 100% control of the tools.
-The 4 valve head spring compressors I used a SB Chevy pushrod as the stem that I have the valve spring end welded to.
-The pushrods are adjustable in length with a simple setscrew on the outer end of the compressor frame----and this setscrew seems to be plenty adequate.
