need too do a valve stem seal gaskets on my 86 cutlass supreme
does the engine have too be out of the car and do I need to remove oil pan

 

No & No

 

X2, on the no n no. You will need a regulated air attachment to screw into your spark plug holes to air up the cylinders. Most people use a leakdown tester.

 

I don't know what engine you have in an '86 (never had one that NEW, only 394's and 455's...lol!), but, if the valve stems seals are broken or deteriorated/missing, they will be in the oil pan, and eventually will find their way into the oil pump and engine bearings, just like the nylon timing gear teeth; I would recommend removing and cleaning the pan and oil pickup, as well as checking the timing gears!


JMO

 

Hell, you just mitaswelled your way into pulling the engine and going thru it.

:-)

 

Good recommendation on checking the pan. There are ways of taking a peak through the oil drain....bore scope etc...If its not a high perf car and 99% of the old seals are intact but just hard, you'll likely be OK on the oil pick up issue. Its a judgement call. As mentioned you need to pump up the cylinders (one at a time of course on BDC) with regulated compressed air. Then use the spring compressor tool available most anywhere. Be careful with the keeps, springs, push rods, trunions, rockers etc....they should all go back in the same location they were removed from. Oil the stems so the new seals aren't dry. If its a high mileage car consider a new set of OEM springs.
Of course as Octania mentions...you could just yank it and do a rebuild...you already have the rocker covers off...lol

 

I assume you have a 307, so if so, the hard part will be getting to the valve covers under the accesories and emission crap. Once you get the covers off, you can follow the procedure i did to my 350:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post317189
You can look at the seals thru the springs and see how bad they are before going further.
And use the thick rubber valve cover gaskets on reassy.