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Valve spring ratings....

Kern Dog

Life is full of turns. Build your car to handle.
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I am going through the 440 in my car....

Re-Rebuilding the 440-493 in a 1970 Charger

One issue that I just noticed is the tech sheet that came with the new valve springs I bought.
I have the Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum heads so I bought replacement springs for them.
Check out the specs they list:

178 R.jpg


179 R.jpg


180 R.jpg


Check out the highlighted part:

181 R.jpg


Max valve lift is .480 + .050 = .530 ? This is odd. I've had these similar springs in place with the Lunati and this Mopar Performance cam, both with a LOT more lift than that. I'm at .564 with the '528 cam and .576/.600 lift with the Lunati. How is this possible?
 
If you measure everything (everything), you can run within .060 of coil bind.

Those springs coil bind at 1.125

Hard to see but they recommend installed height at 1.885?

1.885 minus 1.125 is .760 minus .060 is .700

Unless you had over .700 lift at the valve, you would not approach coil bind.

Not sure how they are arriving at max valve lift unless it's because they don't want you to exceed 310 over the nose.

For example 1.885 minus .500 to achieve 1.385 equals 360lb/in rate.

If you set them up at 1.885 you would of course have 130 on the seat

Now if you ran it with .600 lift you have an extra .100 lift.

360lb/in x .100 = 36

310+36, now it's 346lbs over the nose.

Not really familiar with flat tappets to know if that would really matter but I thought people run that and more?


You didn't ask but just throwing it out there. I wouldn't personally run a 1.550 od spring.

Lots of variables but basically the more weight you have in the valve/spring/locks/retainer the more pressure you need to control everything. If you can lighten all that up you can run less spring pressure which ends up being easier on the lifter/cam interface. (or same pressure results in more rpm potential and less likely to loft/bounce/damage)

Even on my solid roller setup I'm using only a 1.4" diameter spring.

If I were you I would look for the smallest diameter spring that meets your requirements. If you're trying to keep it on the inexpensive side, team that up with tool steel retainers.

JMO
 
I think they mean max valve lift of their cams the spring is recommended for, and that is being used to get the open spring pressure?
 
My Satellite came with EDE RPM's with a Comp solid FT .502/509. I believe the springs were the EDE 1.550 single springs. It was all done by 5200-5400 RPM. I switched to Comp 930 1.550 double springs. I think that helped the RPM's by at least a few hundred. Then I also replaced the fuel pump, filter and fuel lines to be sure that wasn't part of the poor RPM.
 
If you measure everything (everything), you can run within .060 of coil bind.

Those springs coil bind at 1.125

Hard to see but they recommend installed height at 1.885?

1.885 minus 1.125 is .760 minus .060 is .700

Unless you had over .700 lift at the valve, you would not approach coil bind.

Not sure how they are arriving at max valve lift unless it's because they don't want you to exceed 310 over the nose.

For example 1.885 minus .500 to achieve 1.385 equals 360lb/in rate.

If you set them up at 1.885 you would of course have 130 on the seat

Now if you ran it with .600 lift you have an extra .100 lift.

360lb/in x .100 = 36

310+36, now it's 346lbs over the nose.

Not really familiar with flat tappets to know if that would really matter but I thought people run that and more?


You didn't ask but just throwing it out there. I wouldn't personally run a 1.550 od spring.

Lots of variables but basically the more weight you have in the valve/spring/locks/retainer the more pressure you need to control everything. If you can lighten all that up you can run less spring pressure which ends up being easier on the lifter/cam interface. (or same pressure results in more rpm potential and less likely to loft/bounce/damage)

Even on my solid roller setup I'm using only a 1.4" diameter spring.

If I were you I would look for the smallest diameter spring that meets your requirements. If you're trying to keep it on the inexpensive side, team that up with tool steel retainers.

JMO
Does the smaller diameter spring require a different valve seal type? Or will factory style seals still work?
 
Does the smaller diameter spring require a different valve seal type? Or will factory style seals still work?

Depends on what parts you're using exactly. I used comp 519-16 seals on mine and a valve guide OD cutter with a hand drill. (but I'm using dual springs).

You may be able to find a conical spring or single spring with smaller diameter that will still fit a stock type valve seal.
 
The chart shown appears to be a cam and spring chart. Some of the data on there is only relevant to the cams on the list. It is kinda of an odd chart.

FWIW…A dual valve spring has quite a bit better harmonics than a single with a dampener. A dual has better valve control with less spring rate. Single with a dampener is common on our mopars. We usually knock the spring rate back 10-15% moving to a dual to single, more or less leaves the seat pressure the same with less pressure at max lift, easier on parts. The only benefit to a single spring set up is it is cheap.
 
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I’ve had this setup to 6000-6200. Not often but a few times. It just keeps pulling. If there was valve float, I didn’t notice.
 
It wasn’t intentional. I get excited and lose concentration sometimes.
 
I hesitate getting involved because most of the time nobody listens anyways ?
just say'in....
it's OK to ignore this post and carry on as you see fit, I won't take offense.
That said,
What Cam ?
What Rockers ? and Ratio ?

You need 125-130# seat pressure..... anything much above 300# @ .500" over the nose not so much unless you believe you are making power where you probably aren't being Eddy's on a 493 ?.... or your Rocker's are really heavy ?
 
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To many what to blame the valve when it's the lifter you
I hesitate getting involved because most of the time nobody listens anyways ?
just say'in....
it's OK to ignore this post and carry on as you see fit, I won't take offense.
That said,
What Cam ?
What Rockers ? and Ratio ?

You need 125-130# seat pressure..... anything much above 300# @ .500" over the nose not so much unless you believe you are making power where you probably aren't being Eddy's on a 493 ?.... or your Rocker's are really heavy ?
To many want to blame the valve when it's the lifter you need to watch. That spring can not do it's job no matter the pressure if the lifter will not allow the valve to seat.
 
I hesitate getting involved because most of the time nobody listens anyways ?
just say'in....
it's OK to ignore this post and carry on as you see fit, I won't take offense.
That said,
What Cam ?
What Rockers ? and Ratio ?

You need 125-130# seat pressure..... anything much above 300# @ .500" over the nose not so much unless you believe you are making power where you probably aren't being Eddy's on a 493 ?.... or your Rocker's are really heavy ?
I was told that these are the springs that come standard on the Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, circa 2003.
I had the '528 Mopar solid using these springs as well as the Lunati solid with the folowing specs:

156 R.JPG

Yes, it is a 4.15 stroke with a .030 overbore. I only get it to 6000 rpms if I'm not paying close attention.
 
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