I got the springs in , and the car is running once again!
I did not use the stock springs cups (didn't have them), and I used the spring dampeners that came with the comp cam springs. The total job took about 2 hours.
A couple questions now that the car is running again...
1. Prior to the spring replacement, my 1/2 & 2/3 shift points were very high at about 5100rpm (in drive). Now, they're much lower... 4600 for the 1/2, and about 4700 for the 2/3. I'll re-adjust my TV cable and see what happens. What would the cause of this be? Could my old springs have been that shot? Will these new springs break in/loosen up a little in the next few weeks?
2. In addition to the change in shift points, it appears that my O2 millivots (on scanmaster) have gone up some. I'd say they're probably about 10 points higher than before. Can some one explain this? Obviously it has something to do with the spring replacement, but why?
Note: I'll get some runs this week recorded with the Directscan, and will be able to tell for sure what's going on with the car. For now though, I'd say that it feels really good!
Some observations after doing the spring job...
1. Get the Kirban tool!! This thing was a life saver. In addition to the Kirban tool, I also had a on-the-car spring compressor. It's a nice tool, but the Kirban tool can fit into the much tighter spaces on our car. If the heads were off the car, I'd use the on-the-car spring compressor instead.
2. Make sure you have extra valve keepers. I didn't loose any, but can see how easy it would be to do so. Read on....
3. Make sure you have a small telescoping magnet (from craftsman, etc.), to get the valve keepers out with. If I didn't have one of these, I probably would of dropped half of them down onto the crossmember!
4. Get a bunch of large bolts to drop in the pushrod & oil drain holes. Then you won't have to worry about anything falling in there. It's a lot easier than having to stuff paper towels in there. Plus the bolt head will keep them from falling in. No worries.
That's it. I appreciate all the advice.
-Banning.