Valvetrain maintenance is very important if you want to keep your engine healthy. If your engine combination sees high RPM levels or is making a lot of horsepower, you’re going to be checking the valvetrain often. T&D Machine Products has developed a valve spring compressor tool that has 12 positions and can be used while the engine is still in the car.

T&D’s valve spring compressor tool is comprised of a head, shaft, and handle. The head is made of heat-treated billet aluminum for long service life. The head replaces the rocker arm and pushes down on the retainer when you’re using the tool. The spring compressor’s shaft replaces that shaft of the rocker arm and uses the same bolt pattern of the rocker arm stand. The handle is 18-inches long and has a broached 12-point piece tig welded to the end. This is welded on at a 45-degree angle and is knurled to provide maximum grip.

Sheldon Miller from T&D Machine Products explains how the tool works.

“The valve spring compressor tool is easy to use. Once the valves are closed on the desired cylinder, simply remove your rocker arm and slide the shaft into the head. Then, you bolt it down to the stand with the exact same hardware that the rocker used. You’ll slide the handle onto the hex portion of the head to its desired position for clearance and compress the spring. The 18-inch handle has plenty of leverage for most all spring pressures.”

Every car and engine combination is different, so there can be clearance issues that make doing valvetrain maintenance while the engine is in the car a challenge. The valve spring compressor tool was designed and developed to make the valvetrain maintenance process easier. T&D made the handle clockable to overcome space constraints and give users a mechanical advantage when they’re trying to remove valve springs.

“With the head being a six-point hex, and the handle being a 12-point hex, you can clock the handle to any position. This is a huge benefit for a lot of racers that may have roll cages, a brake booster, a master cylinder, dry sump tanks, turbos, headers, or any other obstacle in the way. They can just rotate the handle to a better angle to avoid obstacles. Once the spring is compressed and the keepers are removed, the head of the compressor can rotate far enough away to get the springs on or off without removing the tool. We do offer an additional 18-inch bar that can slide into the supplied handle for additional leverage if needed,” Miller says.

If you want to learn more about T&D’s valve spring compressor and order one for your engine you can visit the company’s website right here.