What exactly would you expect from an engine if the valve locks break?

 

A dropped valve

 

Maybe I should reword that, ha ha. What type of problem would I have if there's busted valve locks? The valve drops and I assume it collides with the cylinder and gets bent. How noticeable would this be with the engine running? What other types of damage could this lead too?

 

It would sound like a god awful miss, as well as some loud noise as the piston slaps the valve. It wouldn't necessarily get bent sinceit doesn't have spring pressure on it anymore.Possibly hear some vibrations from the spring rattling around under the valve cover... What makes you think the keepers are broke?

 

Well, I have the engine out right now and redoing the seals. I pulled the oil pan and found small cylindrical peices of metal that looked like they sheathed a rod like structure. Atleast from my assumption. They look like destroyed valve locks to me but I could be wrong. I pulled the valve cover off the driver's side and found some again towards the rear of the head near the oil port. They were caught up in the recessed hole that one of the securing bolts sits in. I haven't gotten a chance to fully inspect the springs, rockers, etc. yet.

 

If the keepers are broke, then when you get the rockers off, you should be able pull the springs off by hand (w/o compressor). The keepers are just two halves that wrap around the valve tipand "wedge" into the valve spring retainer with spring tension.

 

i have seen the old umbrella style seals get hard and break-up.can you pick these piece's up with a magnet.if the locks break,you will probably bend a valveand possibly bust a hole in the piston.the piston and valve are at different angles,it's more than likely not just going to kick the valve back into the head.if you have found a bunch of these piece's,i would be willing to bet that it's not metal,it's hard plastic from the old valve stem seals

 

Bowtieguy> Yeah, I'm beginning to believe that to be the case on closer inspection. If it's metal it's non-ferrous and not able to be picked up by magnet. I'm pretty sure that most locks are ferrous metals that can be picked up by a magnet. The engine ran decently before it was pulled from the car with no knocks, pings, etc. Just the rear seal and oil pan were leaking and we wanted to do some other things to it so we decided to pull it to go over it a little bit easier. There's no telling when the last time most of the gaskets, seals, etc. were replaced so we were going to remove and replace anything that needed it. Upgrade the camshaft, lifters, most of the valvetrain, and possibly new Dart heads with custom setup. Some stuff has come up that was completely out of the blue to knock my funds completely out of my hands though and now I'm looking to see what needs to be replaced against what I would like to have replaced but can still work till I recoop my losses.

After reading your post I grabbed a pretty big peice and it snapped pretty easily in my fingers with about 60 - 75% pressure that I could apply. Looking at the break I'm about 99% sure it's just black plastic now.

 

Here's a pic of what I found. Quarter is for size reference, not something I found in the oilpan.

 

i think i'm right.i think that is valve stem seals that are old and deterioated