Cadillac Flathead w/ stuck Valve...help!

I have a 48-cad flathead motor and one of the intake valves is stuck in the guide. I have the valley cover off and can see the valve and spring. The head is off also. My question is can I get the keeper off the valve and replace the guide without disassembling lower half of the motor. Will I need special tools? Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Yes you can but it is no fun. Is the engine in a car or out and is it attached to a tranny or similar?

1st thing is to ensure anything you remove does not drop down into the sump etc.
Maybe place some rags over the cam etc.

Then you would need to remove the gallery that carries the lifters.
Each gallery holds 4 lifters and there are 4 galleries. So you would remove the gallery in the problem area by removing 2 bolts, each bolt should have some kind of tin plate locking device with it so fold the tags back gently and then proceed to remove the gallery bolts.

Before you remove the gallery if the crank still turns you should rotate the crank and as each valve related to the gallery you are removing lifts, place a length of cotton chord or similar between the block and the mushroom part of the valve, this will hold the valves up which will be a great help you when you come to replacing the gallery once you have fixed the problem.

If the engine happens to be out of the car and without a tranny then I have in the past tipped the engine vertical on a low table resting on the fly wheel end of the block and chocked with suitable timber blocks for stability.
I find it a better work position.

Once the bolts are removed you should be able to carefully slide the gallery out and away from the cam which will then expose the 4 valve stem ends.

If you plan to remove more than the one valve please remember to number or mark them so re-assembly will be a smooth process.

I use a modified ford flathead valve spring compressor to remove the valve collets.

Once you have the collet removed from the problem valve hopefully you will be able to gently tap it out. If it is stuck bad then you are on your own or seek the help of a mechanic.

If you have any questions or have left something out please do not hesitate to drop me an email or PM.

Good luck, Russ.

PS; dont forget to join the cadillac flathead club on this forum.

 

Great tech!!! Do you have a pic or explain how you modified the ford tool? I had a Caddy tool, and somehow, somewhere have lost it. And the Ford tools are substanitally easier to track down new.

 

Thanks Russ! that helps allot. Im a little confused about holding the valve up with the cotton cord though and how do I modify the ford spring tool? thanks Matt

 

Hi Matt, two extra things to remember, you will need to disconnect the oil feed lines to the lifter gallery and also be very careful when removing the gallery as the lifter may want to drop out. The lifters are in two pieces and if the fall they may come apart, it is important to keep them dirt free and together.

With the chord all you are doing is using it as a spacer. So get a length about 12+ inches long and as each valve lifts off the block when rotating the crank, just slip the end of the chord between the valve and the engine block and the feed the next piece of the chord under the neighboring valve when it opens and so on. The chord will stop the valves from going back down into their seat position and therefore take away the load that they usually apply onto the lifters, which makes it easy to remove the gallery or sometimes called the lifter block on the inside part of the engine.

The old ford spring compressor will work on certain valves depending on their position in the block. The worst to deal with are the end ones which access is a little tight and the casting shape of the block is a little unfriendly.
All I did is find a couple of washers about 1 to 1 1/4 diameter and cut a gap on one side of them wide enough to clear the valve stem and collets and welded them onto the old ford unit, you will find one washer is not thick enough so stacking say two and tacking them together makes for a stronger unit. Before welding the washer on you will need to calculated mostly by eye the most suitable position you need. It does make the compressor push a little off set but still works fine and gets you out of jail in those tight corners. I dont have the tool to photograph as it has been loaned out and is not near by to get back right now.

I have attached a couple of top engine pic's and will post later a mocked up pic of the chord set up for you.

 

Russ thanks again for the help. it made sence to me when I looked at the motor today. holding the valves off the lifters with the cord is a nice trick. Matt

 

Here is the chord trick and pic's of the lifter gallery for any other who may need to know.

 

Oop's not all attached here you go.
Glad i could help and I would be happy to assist you or anybody else should they have cadillac flathead questions.
Russ.

 

warning: 10 year old thread resurrection!

I have a normal OHV valve spring compressor, which I modified to sort of work on a Caddy 346 I'm trying to get running. I just made new fingers, offset a ways to clear the block. I still have to hold it almost sideways to get it in there, but so far I've got the three valves loose that I've tried it on.

This is a fun engine to work on. This particular one sat for a while before my brother got it, he pulled one head and it sat for almost 30 years after that. I got all but two of the pistons out before removing the crank (with the flywheel and clutch attached), then was able to knock the other two down and get them out. The valves are a bit rusty, and the ports are dirty from no manifolds on it for all that time. The other side of the motor is pretty clean, and it had been rebuilt years ago, with 30 over pistons, 10 under crank, and very little wear showing. Hopefully the valves will clean up...but it may need a valve job, after all.

The lifters came out easily, once I got the timing chain off so I could turn the cam as needed to take the load off the valve springs, one group of four at a time.

 

Thanks Jim, our conversion was similar.
There are two corners that are quite tricky to get into when doing the valves, which lets you know whether your valve tool is good enough.
I've seen the original Caddy tools on ebay for a small fortune.
Be nice to own one but not at drug prices...