We all know the SBC likes to "puff" a little blue when they start. The one in my '72 Lemans is no exception. My question is what valve seals do you guys recommend? I was told at the auto parts store about umbrella seals, and 'O' rings. I even had one guy tell me to use both???? Looking up on Summit's site they show kits where they use different ones for intake and exhaust, so now I am more confused than ever????????? Appreciate any advice on this one.........THX
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John
1972 Pontiac Lemans (daughter's car) 2005 Pontiac Grand Am 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Fel-Pro sells SBC seals that offer excellent oil controll and heat resistance. The blue colored double band positive seal on the intake side and a white nylon umbrella on the exhaust combined with the traditional O-ring seal will stop the morning "puff"/
I would NOT recomend the blue positive seals carl has described. Most cases you will have to have the valve guide area cut to accept these seals. That is not a good thing, because it weakens the valve guide area and make valve guide replacement risky in the future.
Best umbrella seals are made by felpro, i think the part # is 10058 or someting with a "58" in the digits. IT is just a plain black umbrella seal that will fit over the existing guide and CAN be used in combination with the origina O-ring seals.
I have used these combined together for extra protection with great results I strongly recomend if you have to use umbrella seals, find the 10058's
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Beaumontguru
MY BEAUMONT HAS 4 STUDDED TIRES AND 2 BLOCKHEATERS......AND LOTS OF OIL UNDERNEATH. The other one has a longer roof.
When I was rebuilding engines for a living (back in the 70's) it was pretty common to dig a half cup of broken valve stem seals out of the oil pan, the oil pump intake and on the top of the heads.
I have seen a lot of different styles, and none of them seem to be completely immune from break down over time. One would hope they've got it figured out by now, but every black rubber seal I have seen tends to get hard and fail. Some of the nylon ones are bad too - with some of them cracking as they're installed.
What beaumontguru says is true, but it depends on the valve lift of your camshaft & rockers. High lift cams can be a problem and the installed height of the valve, the spring retainer, the height of the guide and the thickness of the seal all have to be considered.
Trimming the top of the guide is a fairly common practice and is required for a lot of higher lift cams and/or high ratio rockers. This is something that the shop should be checking when they replace the guides - but it is possible they'll miss it or they won't have your block, cam and rockers available when they're installing the guides, so be sure to check it yourself when assembling. Some spring retainers and valve stem seals are specifically designed to minimize the potential for interference between the spring retainer and the valve guide. The FelPros beaumontguru mentions are probably an example of the thin seals?
Yes, the felpro seal 10058? is a thinner black seal with no metal rings. It has an aplication for International Harvester or something wierd like that. But it works on smallblocks no problem, and no chance of the metal rings falling off and rattling around in your oil!
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Beaumontguru
MY BEAUMONT HAS 4 STUDDED TIRES AND 2 BLOCKHEATERS......AND LOTS OF OIL UNDERNEATH. The other one has a longer roof.
I dion't have to worry about high lift cam, this engine is basically a stocker. It came from a 79 Caprice, runs well I just thought while it is still accessible without the front clip on now would be the time to do the valve seals.....
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John
1972 Pontiac Lemans (daughter's car) 2005 Pontiac Grand Am 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
