Griff in Fairbanks wrote:
You don't necessarily need to do a complete valve job. (In fact, I'd recommend against it.) Instead, you should be able to simply replace the valve stem seals without removing the heads or the valves. Use compressed air to keep the valves in place and borrow, rent, or buy one of the spring compressors that work with the head still on the engine. That way, you only have to remove the valve covers and don't risk reconditioned valves causing ring blowby.
Thanks for the advice. I'm glad to hear that I don't need a complete valve job because I don't have the $$ for that this year. I'm curious though... I've heard that using unleaded gas on these old engines can be harmful to the valves. My owners manual says to use leaded gas only, so I add a lead substitute to the gas sometimes but I'm not consistent with it. I'm not old enough to even remember leaded gas - does the use of unleaded harm the engine?:h
