Bill Mulvey asked some good questions about fouled plugs, and I started thinking about those valve seals. Here is a thread dedicated to the valve seal issue. Thanks for the motivation, Bill!
Here is a photo from our MASTER INDEX Ford 427 section, “Cylinder Head Documentation” files. Note the double springs on this particular C7JE (that inner spring is actually a damper coil, to keep the valve seated properly and to absorb any odd vibration.....thanks to Kevin66 for that clarification)
On the diagram below, just about every single part is numbered, except the one we’re talking about, and it’s the “umbrella” seal between part number 2 and 4. It's a neoprene seal that is pressed in place, and it's function is simply to wipe excess oil off the valve stem, so it doesn't run down the valve guide and into the combustion chamber.
To start things off, here’s what things look like in reality, as assembled on the motor. This is the top down shot of one very pretty motor. The wedge head solid lifter design has a history of it’s own, sweeping many a race track and boat race course alike, but we won’t get into that here. This is looking down onto the rocker arm assembly, note the oil drip tray. Chevrolet used pressed steel rocker arms, and Ford used cast iron as shown here. Which one works best is open for argument, but you won’t find any pulled out pressed-in studs on this design!
So as to not load up an individual post with a lot of high resolution photos, I’m adding the next four photos on another thread that follows, and they’re all close ups of the actual valve spring assembly, with a peek at that elusive valve seal.
Regards, Paul