Thinking about purchasing / installing some rocker arm retainers ... anyone with expeience installing care to comment on how difficult the installation is. Do you have to remove the head?

I have not installed them but they should not be hard at all. You do not have to remove the head just the valve cover.

Can you simply grab the end of the tensioner springs with a pair of pliers and "pull" them out?

If not you could just cut them with a pair of dykes

I have thought about just using hose clamps to hold the rocker arms in place, or at least to add some tension to the springs. I don't see why they have to be fancy custom ones unless you have the money.

trev

Just move the springs back and leave them in. It wont cause any damage if you just move them back, then put the retainer in front of them. I would do this, instead of purely retainers due to the "What if the retainer gets loosened due to the oil on the rocker guide?"

Just move the springs back and leave them in. It wont cause any damage if you just move them back, then put the retainer in front of them. I would do this, instead of purely retainers due to the "What if the retainer gets loosened due to the oil on the rocker guide?"

I would be willing to bet if you used a red loc tite they would not come loose.