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Thread: Valve Seal Replacement...Pulling Head

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Location
    Santa Clarita, CA
    Posts
    100
    My Cars
    1978 320i Turbo

    Valve Seal Replacement...Pulling Head

    Hi!
    My valve stem seals are starting to get pretty bad, puff of smoke on startup and a good amount on heavy deceleration.
    Planning on pulling the head, as people say that it is very difficult / near impossible to do with the head on.

    While I have the head off, what should I replace as a preventative maintenance kind of thing?
    Timing chain looks to be in good shape.
    Maybe replace the valve springs? We have a spring tester where I work so I can see whether they are still within spec.


    Gonna get new intake gaskets, but do I have to pull the exhaust off of the head to remove it? It's a '78 with a carb intake, but stock K-Jet exhaust.
    It seems like there may be enough room to take it off without taking off the manifold, but I'm not sure...
    Thanks for the help!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Vacaville,CA
    Posts
    277
    My Cars
    1987 BMW 535iS
    You would be wise to do a compression test to see how even your numbers are. You don't state how many miles are on the engine. This would help to give you advice and how much work you may be entailing. If you are going to remove the head you may want to have the valves and seats cut for a nice tight fit. You will need a new head gasket. Look closely at the coolant passages in the head where they mate up with the block to see if there is any corrosion around the edges that might cause a head gasket problem for you down the road. Hopefully you have kept your coolant fresh to avoid a nightmarish look on those coolant passages. Valve springs are durable and last for many miles, especially with a stock camshaft. You should be able to unbolt the exhaust manifold from the down pipe and even leave the intake on then be able to remove the head as an assembly to make disassembly easier. You will need to remove the intake and exhaust if you are going to have the valves and seats recut, as well as the valve train.
    Your engine has fuel injection not a carburetor.
    shermanmartinez at Hotmail dot com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Location
    Santa Clarita, CA
    Posts
    100
    My Cars
    1978 320i Turbo
    Thanks ascot
    The engine has 71,000 original miles, compression reads 162 +/- 2 across the cylinders, and I converted it from K-Jet to a Weber 32/36.
    I am not planning on doing any head work except for the valve seals, but wanted to see if anybody had experience with any other common wear items on the heads.
    Thanks for the info on the manifolds!

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