Bedford 214 valve spring change without removing head?

[Sean N]

Has anyone tried changing valve springs on a 214 (or 28hp) with the head in situ? I have a 214 with two weak springs on the front cylinder and I'd like to avoid taking the head off. It looks as though it should be possible if the collets aren't wedged too tightly into the caps.

Edited September 2 by Sean N

[David Herbert]

Very easy ! Remove the rocker shaft and the spark plug, Find some soft nylon rope and stuff enough of it into the cylinder that the piston can't quite get to TDC. Keep hold of the loose end so that you can remove it ! Blue polypropalene rope is a bit too stiff for this. The valves can then be held in the closed position by the piston and rope. You can then push the spring retainers down and remove the collets but you may need to refit the rocker shaft without the relevent rockers to give you something to lever against. Make sure you use rags to block the push rod holes so you can't drop a collet down a push rod hole. Have a magnet handy to pull the collets out. Replace the springs and put it all back together. If the collets are wedged in just tap the spring retainer down with a hammer and a short piece of pipe that fits over the collets. The valve can't move so if the spring retainer moves the collets are cracked free. This is also a good way to replace valve stem oil seals when they get hard and pass oil. Good luck.

David

Edited September 2 by David Herbert
More detail

[Citroman]

The is a special tool (left) that passes through the sparkplug hole. You could make one from an old spark plug. You screw it in an turn the hook to stop the valve from moving.

 

[Sean N]

On 9/2/2024 at 10:10 PM, David Herbert said:

Very easy ...

Hello David, thanks. You've described pretty much the way I was thinking of doing it, with the 'indian rope trick'. Is it something you've done before on a 214? Last thing I did it on was a 1.3 Hyundai!

I think I can probably remove the rockers just by removing the first pillar and possibly backing the others off, without having to remove the whole shaft. The rocker shaft should be OK to lever against if the collets let go easily as the load will be similar to normal valve loads, it's just what happens if the collets are stuck. I think a rap on the valve cap should be OK with the valve against some rope.

 

On 9/3/2024 at 9:15 AM, Citroman said:

The is a special tool (left) that passes through the sparkplug hole. You could make one from an old spark plug.

Thanks, I like the idea of the rope though as a soft surface for the valves. What's that image from - it looks motorbike?

[Citroman]

The image is from an old Wilmonda catalogue with special Citroen 2cv tools. But the was also used for other marques.

[David Herbert]

Hi Sean,

No, I haven't needed to do it on a 214 but I have done it on a Chevy 250ci 6 cyl which oddly enough is rather similar but a bit bigger. I have no doubt that it is the easiest and simplest way to do what you need to. If you were doing all the valves it would probably be worth making a lever that would engage with both sides of the valve retainer but give access to the collets. I made one up for an engine with studs for the rocker shaft and made a short dummy rocker shaft out of an old piece of pipe to save stripping the rocker shaft.

I have also used the rope method to lock the crank on a chainsaw to undo the flywheel retaining nut.

David