When installing springs and checking the installed height, is it ok to use a veneer caliper to measure from the head to the TOP of the retainer? The CompCams instructions say to measure from the head to the underside of the retainer, but to do that I need to buy more tools graemlins/angry.gif

Thanks guys

when i set up heads for the springs, i cut a cotter pin or such to the correct height/length, and i will slide it between the head and bottom of the retainer,what ever slack you have, take it up with the valve spring shims.

Vince,
You have to measure to the bottom of the retainer because that will give you the actual spring height. I have one customer that uses pieces of coat hanger, he cuts one to about the right length, then slowly grinds a bit at a time off it until it will just fit under the retainer. Then he measures it with his dial calipers.

you can measure from the top but then you will need to subtract the thickness of the retainer.

I used a 2.5" long finishing nail cut, then filed to 1.88" or so for my BB heads!!

pdq67

Vince,

If you have the time to get more tools than you can use this as a chance to get more tools. :D

This (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=5649) is what I use to chack installed height when I assemble cylinder heads. At $9.99 it is a nice tool to have along with you dial calipers.

Good Luck.

Thanks for all the help fellas.

I'm just following CC'c recommendations for setting up the springs. All thats really being checked is the height of the valve, right. So I would think that it really doesn't matter where your measure, as long as you measured all the valves that way (right?).

It says to find the shortest valve and set the rest up to that height. All my valves are w/in .01~.03, is that OK?

Thanks!

BTW - is it necessary to run shims? It seems as if I remove a couple of 'em I'll get the height I need.

Vince,
Valve stem hgt & valve spring hgt or two seperate things.
The valve stem hgt is measured from the seat to the tip of the valve & the spring hgt will be from the seat to the underside of the retainer.
You don't need shims except for setting hgt unless you have aluminium heads in which case you must run a shim of some sort to protect the head.