90 stem seal replacement

[toylover]

Hi all,

I have 90, carburated (3E) and am planning on doing valve stem seals. I did the timing belt not too long ago and I would prefer NOT to remove the timing belt completely before removing the cam shaft to do this work. DOes anyone know how I can accomplish this? Is there a way to loosen the timing belt and then retension without the hassel of having to remove the lower timing belt cover and hence the front tire, acc belts, crank pully etc? Thanks if anyone has any ideas, otherwise I guess I have to pull everything off again

[fentleyboa]

Yes!
I did it by making sure the crankshaft was @ TDC when I removed the Camshaft bolts ,then your cam shaft should be @ TDC or close anyway
when you remove it "the cam" will rotate a bit but you can get it back upon
re-assembly .you can even turn the crank to keep the valve up higher to get the keepers on easier .a telescoping magnet pen thingy came in extra handy when I dropped the valve spring keepers (they're really small) .
just do it cause the car will repay you with great gas milage. stay positive

[rhandwor]

How did you change valve stem seals without putting air in the cylinder to keep the valves from falling out. I realise it is close but how much were your compressing the valve springs.

[KimMG]

An easy way to keep the valves from dropping is to remove the spark plug, feed a length of rope into the cylinder (make sure you leave the end of the rope dangling out of the spark plug hole so it can be easily pulled out after you are done with the valves) and turn the crank until the piston pushes the rope against the valves, holding them closed. Disadvantage of this method is that you are going to have to line up the marks on the crankshaft to the camshaft when reinstalling the timing belt.