The V8 Owners Forum -

heres a question Im ponderng over at the moment,

I was offered some Titanium Valves last week about the right size for my engine, all brand new dogs danglies etc, The reason I have been offered these is due to the present owner not too keen on using toxic materials for valve guides and seats, meaning Berylium Bronze, are there any less toxic materials that can be used for this purpose, I know it would be a lot of work and probably mean building up my spare heads to take these valves but its sounding like a viable project if only I can get sensible seats and guides, I have been told I can use spheroidal [sp] cast iron for guides, but I dint fancy cast iron seats,
Any sugestions lads.

Ian

Hi Ian
From what I researched a while ago the only suitable material for seats is berilium bronze, however What I also found is that seats made of this stuff can be obtained in a far more finished state, you then have to buy partially finnished guides (can be in Iron as you state) and you bore the guide out and do the seat with one tool, result is you do less of the finish on the seat and create less nasty berilium bronze swarf. If you do go this root you will need good extraction for the swarf, a mask, over suite glasses and surgical gloves. If it were me I would do any work in a closed box with extraction and filtering, not impossable to rig up at home but you really want avoid any contact with the swarf.

Mike

If your current valvetrain is working......then what benefit will Titanium valves offer you ?

Unfortunatly my valvetrain needs changing due to the cam sproket failure last year, So I am realy just thinking out loud, Lighter valve train, les spring loadings needed, less friction =more power, plus with lighter valve gear, I can run a far more aggressive ramp on the cam which is also fubared and I need to get remade, or just get an new one

Hi Ian
Are you on a roller cam or a flat tappet? because I think the main gains are with a roller set up. the lobe ramp on a flat tappet cam I believe is mostly limited by the tappet contact point moving too far off to the side and increasing the side loading on the tappet in the bore too far . you would be able to rev it further, but I am not sure you will be able to hit it with a steeper ramp without going to a roller tappet and cam.
I must confess if had the offer of a set of new titanium valves in the right size I would not be able to resist. I would also have to go roller cam (I have already gone roller cam without Titanium valves so I supose that is stating the blindingly obvious)
Mike

Im on a silly flat tappet solid, Tell me more about the roller cam for a Rover??? Im assuming it is, so Im curious what followers you use, SBC??

I believe chevy tappets fit straight in, I've got a set of comp cams mechanical roller ones 21.35 mm in diamiter if you want to try a pair then I'm in MK, don't know how north of Watford you are but I should be less than 40 minutes away.
As for cams, again comp will do you a "custom" grind on a buick 215 blank, either use a chevy/ ford ramp/lobe pattern with the right base circle (they do chevy on standard base circle or .9 inch which is what I have) they do the roller tappets to match for the chevy, they also do road versions of the mechanical roller tappet to give a better oil feed to the roller.
There are also lobe patterns for the buick V6 but they dont quote those on their catalog. the comp cams catalogue is here http://www.compcams.com/technical/Catal ... 26-227.pdf
I am using chevy stuff in a chevy but my "custom" grind was about $270 and was with me within 7 days of ordering, it is a lobe off the catalogue on a custom LSA and with a 4,7 swap and .9 inch base circle.
Hope this is some help.
Mike

Ian
after a little further investigation several parts supliers list the Buick and Chevy (sbc) solid flat tappet lifter under the same part number.
Mike

Kiwi, when I looked into rollers I concluded you'd need a lot of spring poundage to keep everything under control. Did you look into this and did you fit a rev kit? This is what I intended to do before I went another route.

Hi
Yes you need a fair amount of spring poundage, I have isky tool room springs, pt no 9965 for my chevy with their titanium retainers. No rev kit as from what Ive read these are mainly to save the engine if it breaks a push rod and the lifter pops out loosing you oil pressure. They should last 60 hours per set. With the car it is going in they should need changing every two to three years. As the engine will need a partial strip anyway about this often I figured they were well worth it. (The spring and retainer set are cheeper and better than the comp equivilent)
Mike