Valve Spring Testing 101

[lun40119]

+.200 SBC valve......2.080, flows 346 at .900.

[TheEngineWorks.com]

5/16 is a ton of weight, 6 MM is light Eddie. I know that valve Jake LOL it looks very longggggggg

I am betting they flow more than Eddie's too LOL or very close to it.

I would not go with a 6mm stem in something like mine.. Hell, most guys only recently even started going to 5/16" stem on bigger stuff.. I have a longtime friend, Al Lavera, who owns REV valves, and we've had this conversation a number of times, he tries to get some of the more known guys to go to the smaller stems on the BB stuff, most don't, but more are today, I've been doing it for years, but then again when a longtime personal friend is in the valve biz, and you've spent many a dinners together with our wives talking about valves and valve train, ya tend to learn a bit.

Al used to work for Ferrea back when they first came around back in the early 80's, and that's when I first met him, we've been friends ever since, he was good friends with my dad, too, we used to live in the same area and go out all the time on the weekends. I don't see Al like I used to, but we both moved. Al was THE guy that put Ferrea on the map, I don't care what anyone says, without Al, that place might not exist today! Back in the day, Al was EVERYWHERE pushing the Ferrea valves, he even sold them back in the day to all the rednecks in the NASCAR world, and that was not an easy sell, being that the valves are made in Argentina, but Al did it, he'd roll up with his high dollar cowboy boots, and his cowboy hat on, he looked like Freddy Fender! I always used to joke with him about that!

As far as the flow on my heads, they ain't nothing to write home about, they are almost a 20 y/o design, but it's all we got..

[JeffMcKC]

Eddie what's new on Valve train last week, is Old news this week, if you still have adjusters on your rocker arms then your using square stone tires as far as weight goes. I admit mine is Heavy stuff and out of control money says yours is too. Just saying your not slayin the world anymore than anyone else is,,,,,,,,, other than Jake he is doing it right.

[lun40119]

New rockers......

[TheEngineWorks.com]

Eddie what's new on Valve train last week, is Old news this week, if you still have adjusters on your rocker arms then your using square stone tires as far as weight goes. I admit mine is Heavy stuff and out of control money says yours is too. Just saying your not slayin the world anymore than anyone else is,,,,,,,,, other than Jake he is doing it right.

I'm trying to go pretty quick with old parts, with the most emphasis on reliability, cause it AIN'T a street car if the covers gotta come off everyday to see what may be broken! I told you, covers been off of mine maybe two-three times since November, and all I've done is run the valves, no spring checking, or anything else, why, cause I don't need to, I have a STREET CAR! I change the oil in my junk, if it even get's that.. I drive to the track, don't touch a thing, make some hits, and drive home, as I should be able to..

[TheEngineWorks.com]

New rockers......

Jake, I pay NO attention to how fast you're going, or not going, matter of fact, I have no clue how fast your car has been, it interest me in no way, you are just buying your way there.. It may be "cool" to you to show off the shiny parts, and no doubt that impresses the "kids", but I'm not impressed. Sorry, don't mean to insult you, but it's how I feel.. When you come out with a car that can drive the week, and you don't have to be tearing into it all the time to check a bunch of "elite" type, high dollar parts, and go fast doing it, I'll be impressed.. Maybe I'm not easily impressed. Believe it or not, there are guys at DW doing it.. Ever look under the hood of Larson's car, nothing to "exotic" there, he's even said in the past, and I paraphrase, he does not want to trick himself outta the game, use the KISS principle, it can work. ;-)

[CDMBill]

And yeah, I still have adjusters too and fat ass 5/16's stems and.... stone age stuff for sure. We've been making it work with 230# on the seat though with the 2.400" valve. I think we're gonna try the spintron stuff this time so I can run more lift, the heads are good for it if we can get a handle on the next set of lobes. To date distance to coil bind has been measured statically.

On a related topic my old heads had a round pushrod hole and we purposely allowed the pushrod to graze the side of the hole to help with dynamic stability. The new heads have an oval slot so we lost that benefit. Likely going to go bigger, eg dual taper on the push rods this time too.

The jury is still out on what broke first. I have one other intake where the valve tip, not the lash cap but the valve tip itself which is a separte piece on a partially hollow stem valve came of with the lash cap during disassembly.

Jake, thank you for the Spintron graphs, very educational. Can you share how the dynamic lift is measured? Lasers?

[lun40119]

I check them Ed..........didn't say I had to replace them. Build one....430inches.......put your money where your mouth is.

By the way......that is an old cup rocker.....2006ish. Ive got regular old crower steel rockers. You are just fun to mess with. You know.....like a puppet.

[lun40119]

And yeah, I still have adjusters too and fat ass 5/16's stems and.... stone age stuff for sure. We've been making it work with 230# on the seat though with the 2.400" valve. I think we're gonna try the spintron stuff this time so I can run more lift, the heads are good for it if we can get a handle on the next set of lobes. To date distance to coil bind has been measured statically.

On a related topic my old heads had a round pushrod hole and we purposely allowed the pushrod to graze the side of the hole to help with dynamic stability. The new heads have an oval slot so we lost that benefit. Likely going to go bigger, eg dual taper on the push rods this time too.

The jury is still out on what broke first. I have one other intake where the valve tip, not the lash cap but the valve tip itself which is a separte piece on a partially hollow stem valve came of with the lash cap during disassembly.

Jake, thank you for the Spintron graphs, very educational. Can you share how the dynamic lift is measured? Lasers?

Yes lasers....

No problem Bill....

[Beagle]

the valve Tip was loose Bill?

[CDMBill]

yes literally loose, i could pop it back in, put the lash cap on and run down the rocker bolts and the lash was still right on. Pictures to come.

[TheEngineWorks.com]

yes literally loose, i could pop it back in, put the lash cap on and run down the rocker bolts and the lash was still right on. Pictures to come.

Sounds like you had a pretty angry valve train!!

[Leon421]

I am probably going about this all wrong. I bought an engine that broke springs on the dyno left and right. Then broke a valve on its maiden voyage with the previous owner. I buy it. Start buying springs and retainers based on info on the phone. Get everything and start assembly to find the lift is way lower than I was told. Seven rocker arms were short and I believe this is where all the problems began. So now I have way to much spring for the lift the cam provides. It does not run as good with more rocker ratio. So new springs are in the future. Good thing is the cam grind is an old Craftsman truck grind, the valves are 5/16 titanium, and Heavy TD rockers with plenty of valve train oiling. PAC recommends over 300# on the seat turning 9,500. My coil diameter is larger and the valves are longer than the original design. I want to order springs that are for less lift and run closer to coil bind. I was thinking .050". Sounds like you guys are suggesting much lower seat pressure. Maybe 220#. The cam is a solid roller with .787".

I have tested the car at the track ET does not seem to be an issue. I have not had this engine long and it is definitely different from what I have ran in the past. I do not want to be parked on the side of the road working on it. So far the springs are checking well but have not been that far from home on the street. Too busy racing. Don't want to crash parts. Really need to get on the move and measure and order for new springs.

[lun40119]

The lobes I have in my engine are similar acceleration rates as the older truck stuff. I guarantee you if you need 300lbs of seat pressure you aren't using the right parts bud...with 130 lbs of seat pressure and .866 lift mine shows no bounce at 9000 rpm...

[TheSilverBuick]

I think he's hiding .144" lift on us....