1999 EJ22.

apparently the exhaust and intake valve springs have painted marks indicating top and bottom.  but nothing looked different so i assumed it didn't matter when assembling.  i don't even think the paint was visible on them all or I would have noticed.

 

i already assembled the heads, does it matter?

here's a thread with a picture detailing the difference if you can't see the painted marks any more.

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2042002

 

part of me thinks this won't matter...part of me thinks otherise.

 

if i pull them again i need a different valve spring compressor - i've tried two.  one doesn't work and the other took hours and was nearly impossible to use, always cranked at odd angles and always interfering with some part of the head.

The springs are progressive rate and that could affect wear on the seat of the spring. But mostly this will affect the amount of weight that has to rebound when the valve closes. You could run into some valve float issues at higher rpm.

 

I've found the t-bar type compressors to work well on these if you have a bench that you can clamp the head to hold it down. Otherwise you need the c-clamp style with the smallest retainer adapter you can get.

t-bar type works good on the Phase II EJ's? 

 

heads are bolted to engine on engine stand - chances of doing this with heads insitu?

t-bar type works good on the Phase II EJ's? 

 

heads are bolted to engine on engine stand - chances of doing this with heads insitu?

 

Commonly done to replace valve seals by threading an air line into the spark plug hole and pressurizing the cylinder, the pressure holds the valves in place, even if they are vertical..

Never saw the adapter for this for sale, but they're out there.

Use a rope instead of air. Feed the rope in about 2-3 feet of it then turn the engine to TDC for that cylinder.

experienced NASIOC guy said it'll be fine for daily driving and for any high rev applications will want to correct them.  that makes sense.

 

goal is to find a valve spring compressor that is simple and effective though, i'll plug around online tomorrow. thanks guys.

surprised how few replies i got, i know someone has done this before!