I’ve been trying to remove the double valve springs on my original MGB head for a few months now although not very seriously as I’m planning on using the later big valve head. This is the normal everyday valve spring compressor that I have tried a few times. No matter what I do I can’t get the double springs to compress enough to remove the clips. Even a can of beer first didn’t help! This tool did work well on the single spring head however.
I don’t think I can take credit for this idea as I vaguely recall seeing something like this elsewhere but here’s my new valve spring compressor that was cheap to make and works beautifully. I took a 1 1/8 inch socket and cut two large slots in it to allow access to the keepers. The socket then sits on top of the valve spring retainer and using my drill press I can easily compress the springs.
A small block of wood is placed under the valve so the valve can’t move once the pressure is applied. What’s cool about this is that I can quickly lock the drill press if I want to keep the springs compressed while reinstalling the keepers and retaining clip. Now since I know how well this works I’ll grind the socket a little cleaner and make it so I can install it in the 1/2 chuck of the drill press. Time for a celebratory beer!
