Mondeo valve stem seal removal tool

What bore size is the seal down? We had Suzuki tools for the gs range that went down quite a small hole to pull the seal with. If you measure the hole size, I'll check whether the set I have will do the job.

mrcheerful

Lifter bore on the Zetec is 28.4mm which is on the small side for a 16v engine. Most engines are in the 31mm to 35mm range.

I found a slide hammer stem seal tool online in the USA at

for £130 which would do the job but a bit pricey.

The Haynes manual shows a Ford tool and suggests a strong spring of the right size can also work but WTF do you find a strong spring of exactly the right size when you need one. So far 4 Ford garages have denied knowledge of the special tool. I guess that shows that not many Zetecs get their stem seals changed.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

The pair I have in front of me would do the job. Depending on how deep the hole is it might be necessary to grind a mil. off each side, so they could go deeper, these ones are MAC tools, I think they were about a tenner. Alternately you could weld a couple of tips onto a pair of long nose pliers. Many years ago, in the absence of the right tool, I changed seals like this by heating the seal till it charred, then pulling with a pair of needle nose pliers or a hook.

mrcheerful

the stem seals

(mine anyway) won't

seals don't seem

pliers that would

trade given the

tool/method for the

I solved a similar problem on a Celica GT4 head by making a small slide hammer.

12mm RS angle. two tips welded to hook under seal. Length of rod welded other end in vee, about 250mm long on my one. Piece of dia brass drilled to slide on the rod. Nut on end. 1 slide hammer. Took about 30mins to make, and did the job easily. I'm sure you have enough bits knocking around to make something similar. Mike.

That's actually what I have for stem seal pliers anyway. A couple of little steel half moon 'bearing shells' brazed to an old pair of needle nose pliers which were made by a colleague many years ago and chucked my way FOC when he bought a pukka set. Their main weakness was not having any knurling on the insides to give a better grip but I've just added a bit of that with a small side cutting burr in the porting equipment. I'll do a better job still when I have a bit more time or I'll grind the current shells off and make something better on the lathe, knurl them, heat and quench them to bring the hardness up and braze them on again.

Spot on and thanks for the suggestion :) I heated them up a bit with the camping gas burner which charred away some of the rubber and expanded the metal sheath sufficiently that they basically fell off with the help of the newly knurled home made seal pliers. 5 minute job in the end. Sorted :)

Now to see how much power the porting job has added because those Zetec heads turn out to have really good scope for improving the port shape.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

This might be well off your discussion, but Im just interested what involved in porting? Is it very intensive on technology?

Are you just sandpapering or something, or using a routing tool to improve the flow within the head? Or is it more precise and specifiying exact dimensions per port? Just wondered if it was something you can easily include in rebuilding a head when replacing a head gasket, without being too technical. Maybe I should get a book out on it.

Tony

Without very specialised test equipment it is hit and miss whether you will improve or spoil performance. Cleaning and polishing inlet ports will generally only improve things, but actually removing material is best left alone. There are numerous books on the subject. In real terms you are unlikely to notice any difference just by cworking on the head (porting, modifying valves/seat angles etc.) But head mods with a suitable cam, modding the injection system/carb, adding a decent exhaust and air filter will make a noticeable difference. It is a case of do a lot or nothing !!

mrcheerful

Hi Dave

I've got a Zetec, want some field testing done. 8~)