Yeah, someone said that they thought it was the old nylon timing chain/gears when I told them about it. I'm not so sure. They said that around 70 - 80k miles that the nylong timing gears tear apart almost predictably. It's definantly a non-stock timing chain and gear on there and it's showing some wear.

 

If found in the pan, it could be from timing chain, most people don't pull the oil pan to clean that stuff out. I would neverguarantee my work if I didn't clean the pan after a timing chain replacement as I have seen a piece of the gear get into the oil pump and jam it up and lost oil pressure and then the motor.
If you found them in the head then yea there the valve seals, as the timing gear would notbe able to get to the head
It could also be both
Its def. not the valve keepers
I have seen a few come off in the past. you can loose one and still keep the valve, but if you loose both then the valve will drop down into the cyl. and you can imagine what that would do

 

Yeah, I believe it to be the valve seals since I'm finding them by the oil drains also in the heads. The oil pan and the heads seem to be littered with this crap.

 

Can the new valve seals be installed without removing the head?

 

yes,but you will have to put air to the cylinder and compress the springs and remove them.its best if you remove all the rockers so valve's will be shut .make sure the piston is at the top on the cylinder you are working on so if the valve does drop it wont fall all the way thru.install the new seal reinstall the valve springs and keepers(have a few spares on hand just in case you loose one).take a brass hammer and tap the valve to make sure the keepers are in place.it's not that hard if you have the right tools

 

Just make sure you clean out the pan and the oil pump pick up tube.
I made my own air tool from my compression tester, I just unscrewed the gauge and installed the air fitting for my air hose, worked great.
Also make sure you get the right seals, some don't fit over the guide without machining them. Back in the day before they made umbrella valve seals forSBCwe used to use the seals for a Ford 289/302 they were small and fit inside the springs and over the guides, never had a problem
We used to put a little white grease on the keepers to hold them in place on the stems as you undo the spring compressor. And squirt them with a little oil after your done so they don't start up dry

 

Firebird69racer> Yeah, I was thinking about that today with the compression tester.

I was thinking about just removing them to have them cleaned and magnafluxed though. Then I could assemble them at leisure and slap them back on.

 

make sure you pull the valve stem seat out of the end.its designed to trap pressure coming from the opposite direction.with it in there you will never push air into the cylinder.i learned that one all by myself lol