Does this seem like a decent deal?

[Zanzer]

However, the rope technique sure sounds like a royal PITA.

Nah man, it's wicked easy. We used to old school them like this a lot and it still works great if I have to work on someone's car at their place and they don't have compressed air. Like Larry says, just get some soft rope.

Wow, I was thinking of the old umbrella seals. Seems I have my terminology mixed up.

most guys welded a male air fitting to an old spark plug that the porcelin had been busted out of.

Ah yes, the old umbrella seals! Luckily they did away with these as standard equipment sometime in the 80's and I don't miss them one bit. They are notorious for getting brittle, then breaking apart and the pieces usually find a new home in the oil pump pick-up screen. The nice thing is when you have the guides replaced in old model heads they bore them out and replace with press in guides so you then can use the new style seals.

That's a great tip on the fitting. I may have to make one of these because it will keep me from having to remove the Schrader valve in my compression tester whenever I replace seals :thumbup: I can't believe I haven't done it yet because I used an old plug body to make a TDC stop for "in car" degreeing of cams. I always miss the simple stuff LOL

[drddan]

A pic is worth a thousand words so.....
And here's the ones where the whole seal is PTFE with a spring body and posi lock. I use these on my SBF/BBF performance builds. These are actually the same price or cheaper than the standard Viton B series seal. Sad huh?

Nice seals! I would bet from summit there is a size that fits the B series engines.

[Zanzer]

^^ That's what I'm thinking too. I just haven't tried to look some up yet because the OEM replacements have been acceptable. But I should have a reason to do the research soon :evil4:

[TaylorDFW]

Nah man, it's wicked easy. We used to old school them like this a lot and it still works great if I have to work on someone's car at their place and they don't have compressed air. Like Larry says, just get some soft rope.

I do have access to an air compressor now that I think about it, but not to a welder to create the male end (spark plug with porcelain busted out). Is there an attachment I can buy that will do the same job? (EDIT: I do have a compression test kit, will the hose on this work for this application?) Also, if I go the compressor route, what's a safe PSI to set the regulator at?

I guess my last question is how do I know when the cylinder I'm working on is all the way up? This is probably a question that I will have answered when I get in there and turn it over manually, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Thanks guys!

Taylor