Valve Springs

chromebumpers

chromebumpers

solid fixture here in the forum
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I met another neighbor yesterday. We started on cars and what he has in his barn, so he invited me over to give an opinion. He has a 1968 Nova with a 350 auto in great condition. I had to bite my lip to avoid asking if he would sell it. 1968s had the nicest dashboard and gauge setup of all the years. He’s interested in giving this car to his grandson (16) - after he finishes the help he promised to do around the house this summer. This grandson loves to clean the car when he comes to visit. Grandpa provides plenty of Pledge spray furniture Polish and a pile of old cotton clothes as rags and the kid wipes down everything inside and out. This has been going on for the past 6 years and the car looks clean and straight with perfect looking vinyl seats. This car was more or less parked at the time of the second oil embargo of the late 1970’s as the owner said it was a “gas guzzler monster” and bought a Subaru in its place.

Yes, I could have just asked the question but where’s the fun in that? :D
Anyway, it was last started about 11 years ago and I was making a list of what is needed cost and labor wise to get it reliable to use. I thought of something I have yet to ever address before. . . . . . .on a car that sits long parked, is there any damage to the valve springs? I’ve heard some say those valves that sit compressed become weakened, others say don’t worry about it. Do they need replacements?
 
yes the valve springs tend to loose a bit of tension,
if compressed for a decade or more,
but its rarely critical , and generally won,t matter if the engines run below about 4500 rpm
yeah its a good idea to replace decades old valve springs eventually,
and I darn sure
would change the oil and oil filter before trying to start the engine,
personally Id use at least one can of MMO (marvel mystery oil) in the mix
and a good VALVOLINE 10w30 oil,
(and it would not hurt to pull the spark plugs, squirt a table spoon of MMO into each cylinder,
and replace the spark plugs, before you restart that engine)
 
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Don't use the decades old fuel in the tank. Replace what's left of the tank itself.
 
Oh, I already made note of the start up precautions to the owner. I was just thinking since it sat so long with a couple springs compressed or partially compressed, replacement should be figured into start up costs.
 
It’s only the valve springs. I needed to know if they are going to effect normal operating performance if they sat for 10 years?
 
valve springs do loose tension but after starting a good many older cars that sat for years, Ive rarely had issues with valve springs
 
You know, I didn’t think so. I just wanted to reason out the logic and the reality of what I hear from some sources.
 
I think if you compare a valve spring that have been compresed for say 20 years with one who have been in use for 20 years, the compresed one has no wear from sitting. There is a test of a 37 year compressed valve spring and it tested with in spec of new.
Its just one motor tested so it may vary, but i think it was surprising after 37 years.
 
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These springs in question have only about 1000 miles at the most when the the car was parked.
 
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