4.0L HO Jeep Engine Build
OK, got the heads and block back from the machinist and did some checking. I washed down, dried and threw the valve spring retainers and locks in my vibratory cleaner for a closer inspection. Note the stress cracking on the top of the retainer and the severe wear on the bottom from the spring. Also note the wear on the inside of the locks. These are unusable and are so worn that different combinations of locks and reatainers changed the installed spring height by as much as an indicated .015" of an inch. This is totally unacceptable and new locks and retainers are on order. I got the keepers from Rock Auto and the retainers from a local dealer (both should be here by the middle of next week). I can just see dropping a valve if I used the old stuff not to mention the assembly inconsistencies.
Another note on locks and retainers for these engines:
There are both early and late styles. The early style of which I'm using are single groove. These are preffered as oversize and performance valves for these engine are only availible in the single groove style. The late style are 3 groove and use a much thinner keeper. These different styles of retainers, keepers and valves are not compatible with each other! Use only 3 groove locks with the retainer specified for them and single groove locks with their matching retainers! Needless to say, you can't use a single groove valve with a 3 groove keeper and vice versa.
OK, got the heads and block back from the machinist and did some checking. I washed down, dried and threw the valve spring retainers and locks in my vibratory cleaner for a closer inspection. Note the stress cracking on the top of the retainer and the severe wear on the bottom from the spring. Also note the wear on the inside of the locks. These are unusable and are so worn that different combinations of locks and reatainers changed the installed spring height by as much as an indicated .015" of an inch. This is totally unacceptable and new locks and retainers are on order. I got the keepers from Rock Auto and the retainers from a local dealer (both should be here by the middle of next week). I can just see dropping a valve if I used the old stuff not to mention the assembly inconsistencies.
Another note on locks and retainers for these engines:
There are both early and late styles. The early style of which I'm using are single groove. These are preffered as oversize and performance valves for these engine are only availible in the single groove style. The late style are 3 groove and use a much thinner keeper. These different styles of retainers, keepers and valves are not compatible with each other! Use only 3 groove locks with the retainer specified for them and single groove locks with their matching retainers! Needless to say, you can't use a single groove valve with a 3 groove keeper and vice versa.