[youtube]1-auZxdvv14[/youtube]

This guide can be applied to any petrol engine, not just the 323F. I successfully fitted new seals to my old V6 engine without removing the head. Here is how you do it.

First of all, do a compression test. This will tell you whether your piston rings are worn or the valve seats are worn - or both. If the compression is good (eg. on the V6 I had 13 bar +/-0.2 on all 6 cylinders dry) then you could assume that any oil leaks are going to be from the stem seals.

The timing belt, cams, spark plugs, distributer and HLA's all need to be removed first. If it is a V6 then you need to remove the inlet to reach the rear bank.

Next get access to the crank ready to turn it. With a long screwdriver reach through the spark plug hole into the bore until you hit the piston. Rotate the crank until the piston bottoms out. Next get 15meters of washing line. Using a 1/2" plastic pipe to centre the washing line down the spark plug hole feed the line into the bore. Keep going until you can't push anymore line through. Now rotate the crank until you compress all the washing line. Don't stand on a breaker bar for this it only needs to fill the gap to stop the valve dropping too far.

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What you need to do is make a tool to compress the valve spring. I used the head part of a standard valve spring compressor, drilled a hole in a piece of bent steel. Watch the youtube video above to see what I made. Its noting special, just a big lever. You need something fairly sturdy so it doesn't bend when you compress the springs. On the end of the bar get a decent hook. You may need to grind the hook down to fit under the castings in the head.

Now for safety sake put some rags around the area you are working to stop any of the keepers falling into the oil sump.

Have a magnet ready to scoop the keepers which hold the valve in place. Tap the valve when it is under compression to break the seal. The keepers should pop out and stick to the magnet. Next remove the spring. The valve seal needs to be pulled out. They are quite tight so be careful when you pull on them. Ordinary pliers won't work so use a flat head screwdriver from the side to pop them out.

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Get some engine oil and apply a little to the inside of the valve seal. Refit the new ones in place pushing down firmly. Next to refit the keepers, you need to compress the spring cap and position the keepers with a small screwdriver until they both snap into place. Once you do a few its not too difficult with a bit of patience.

You need to remove all 4 springs/keepers per cylinder fit the new seals and refit the springs. Then remove the washing line and move to the next cylinder until all seals are done.

Once all seals are replaced, oil the HLAs, cams and retorque the cam bearing caps. Refit the timing belt, distributer and spark plugs. Fit cam cover, and HT leads.

Got to say your guides are always very informative and always very useful

Worth noting that you can, however, have good compression, with poor oil control rings, as long as the compression rings are ok, so don't ignore them completely based on a compression test alone, always assess the symptoms

[quote="Marc S"]Worth noting that you can, however, have good compression, with poor oil control rings, as long as the compression rings are ok, so don't ignore them completely based on a compression test alone, always assess the symptoms [/quote]

Oil rings appear to be a large problem on FS engines and on some KL, Probes and MX-6 virtually always have oil ring failure over valve stem failure, always good compression too. So are Marc says, worth bearing in mind.

Very slightly off topic but does the video cover how to remove the cams on a v6? I can't watch it at work.

No it only shows the tool I made.
Hardest part is the cam belt which needs to come off.

Fair play for finding an innovative way of doing the seals. I bet your back was killing after hours of bending over fiddling with those 48 little keepers.

in my opinion, if you have to go as far as removing the timing belt and HLA's, then you might as well take the head off and do it in comfort on a workbench.

Yes that would be an ideal situation, but I was doing it for a favour and to cost cut we did it this way.

It really wasn't too bad on the back. Once you get the hang of it you can whip the keepers out in seconds with a magnet. I've done valves with heads off many times, and it is quite tedious, but this was quite easy - amazingly.

Amazing guide. Im thinking of doing this very soon but ive heard and seen videos on youtube where you can do it without removing the timing belt as long as you use rope/string. Is this possible on our engines. The other way was using compressed air but the rope is the safest way to stop the vavle falling.