Technical Valve keeper out of the groove

1955 Chevy 235. Has anyone ever seen this and know
a) what may have caused it and
b) how it's even possible that it's not forced/pressed back into the groove?

 

It was assembled wrong. The keeper is in the groove for the ring seal.

 

Could happen if it hit the piston.

 

X2 with onetrickpony. Have worked with 235" for 50yrs.

 

Possibly installed wrong... Valve train looks like it's going helter-skelter when running, but those keepers didn't jump.
Picture them as 'white men'. They DON'T JUMP.
There's a movie....

 

So do you guys think it can be reassembled correctly and run or do you think the valve stem and/or keeper are shot from the pressure of the spring digging it in?

 

Had one loose on a 55 pickup. I didn’t know any better I just fixed set the valves and went on

 

Only one way to find out!

if it goes back together correctly and it runs I would think your fine.

I saw it once on an inline 6 jag that had valve seals done snd came back for a leak couple thousand miles later and a few of the keepers came out of there grooves and wedged into the spring.
Engine ran fine. I put air in the cylinder and put the keepers back correctly and no issues and those valve stems are about as thick as a Q-Tip !

 

Good deal we shall see

 

In High School Auto Shop one of guys said the lower groove was used when you wanted to have higher spring rate when running a bigger cam.

 

an old article by reher and morrison ( pro drag engine builders) said the groove only locates the keepers the taper is what keeps them in place it is hard to believe but who will argue with them

 

Too much power.....

 

I would check the spring closely before reassembling it. It could have been running on the ragged edge of coil bind. If the seat pressure is good and the spring isn't bent/lopsided/cracked then it should be fine to reuse.

 

an old article by reher and morrison ( pro drag engine builders) said the groove only locates the keepers the taper is what keeps them in place it is hard to believe but who will argue with them


Uhhh, the groove also keeps the keeper from sliding off the valve stem, the taper keeps the spring retainer from coming off but the groove definitely does more then just locate.

 

The lower ring is for an 0-ring to help keep excessive oil from going to the guide. It isn’t cut the same as a keeper groove either. Modern valves don’t have 2 grooves anymore because of better seals.

 

So the keeper is in the bottom groove as opposed to the upper groove where it's supposed to be? I've never had one of these heads apart so I'm not exactly sure what the valve stems look like

 

^^^^^^^^^
Ever had a Chev V8 apart ?

 

one trick pony nailed it and you are correct in your assumption that it is in the wrong groove.
Unless there are other issues you don't have to pull the head to fix it though.
You can use the tool to apply air pressure to the cylinder to hold the valve up while you compress the spring and check and then fix the problem or The cheap and simple way is to go get a length of 1/4 inch cotton rope and turn the engine so that the piston is down in the cylinder and stuff the rope in the cylinder and then BY HAND turn the crank until the piston pushes the rope up against the valves. Then you can work away with valve spring and keepers without fear of dropping the valve in the cylinder. When the spring and keepers are back on right, you just back the piston down enough to pull the rope out. For me the rope trick works better when I am only doing one cylinder than the air especially if I might have to leave to get a part.

 

Here is another picture...sbc and 235"'s have the same set up on the valve stem keepers and valve seal.

 

Thanks everyone. I had a 350 I rebuilt once but the shop took care of the head work. I had a '54 235 head redone once as well but again the machine shop did the work

 

That's Hotrod man! Oh yeah!...where mistakes can win races......maybe...