[ICCARS]

Hi Carmine,
you can make your own assumptions on my photos attached but just to be clear, I took a photo of a 429 performance valve spring (damper) which is 1.100" in diameter and a photo of a Valve stem seal off a 429 head (non performance) which is 0.750" diameter.
Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, but what is clearly distinguishable here is that the valve stem seal radius is totally different to the spring section that Joey photographed in relation to the ruler, however the valve spring is very similar, hence my concern.
I am not trying to prove my point to be right; I am merely concerned that there is a guy out there who may do more damage to his engine because of poor workmanship - I have seen this happen so many times I feel that I am duty bound to at least try to explain why this is not right, and for the owner to take notice to get it inspected by another mechanic, as my opinion is that because no photos were taken after the repairs were done recently to replace the seals etc.. there is a fishy smell in the air and I would be asking more questions before I damaged an expensive engine..
Just one more point, have you ever fitted a valve stem seal to a head - it's the easiest task one can perform, even my 14yr old kid could do it without breaking or fatiguing a spring on a seal, and should it have broken off and jammed the valve train then there would be a physical mark on the part and the pressure would have bent it out of shape + noise etc..
Again, just my two cents worth, for what it's worth..
Cheers
Wil