[thefox]

hello guys before i put my 350 in my car i put umbrella seals on the valves and the shop i bout them from told me if i use the umbrella seals i can remove me ols valve seals and not put new ones back becuase all i need is the umbrealla seals is this true.

 

[Richiehd]

Yes, they should work fine.

 

[cdminter59]

What type seals are the old ones? If they are the o-ring type you remove them and replace with the umbrella seals.

 

[Mr. P-Body]

There's a significant terminology issue at work here. When you say "umbrella", what EXACTLY do you mean?

I ask because I've seen positive seals erroneously refered to as "umbrella". A "positive" seal has steel rings around it that "secure" it to the top of the guide. An "umbrella" just slides over the valve stem and "rides" up and down with the valve. Earlier versions of Ford V8s made extensive use of unmbrella seals. SBC only had them on the exhaust side, circa 1979-later (usually a hard plastic material). The SBC also used the positive seal on the intake side during that era. Today, virtually ALL engines use a "positive" seal.

All that said, the "O" ring at the top is intended to prevent oil from runnning through the retainer, down the stem into the guide. While they MAY be extraneous, GM DID use them in conjunction with the positive seals and umbrellas. In short, using them ("O" rings) couldn't hurt!

Jim

 

[thefox]

these umbrella seals are like a rubber and looks like a sewing thimble but with a hole on top i was told to remove the old O ring and slide the umbrellas all the way down but im getting blue smoke big time on start up for like ten min then its all good