Valvesprings

JoshH

Daggum farm truck
Staff member
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 14, 2007
13,639
679
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Texas!!!
Guy, how much heavier are your steel retainers than your titanium retainers?
 
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SIKDMAX

Highway Burnouts!
Sep 14, 2007
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Central Coast, Cali
www.sikdmax.com
Care to explain why Guys are a better over the others?

I guess there is always the bigger/more is better mentality, so it is easy for some to believe that 2 springs are better than 1. However in this case less is more. :D

For my first few Dmax cylinder head builds I used dual springs. Actually they were aftermarket Toyota springs, it was all that was commercially available to fit the Dmax package at that time. There were some small block Ford beehive springs out there, but none with the amount of pressure/rate I feel we needed to control our valve train, given the increased boost and rpm. I could have stayed with the dual setup, but I felt there was a better solution to be had. A single beehive spring, with the same pressure as the duals but with considerably less mass. Leveraging my prior relationship with the valve spring manufacturers (FYI, the cam companies don't make valve springs) I designed a spring just for the Duramax and now have them built specifically for SoCal Diesel, usually in runs of 5,000 pcs. A premium steel wire that is ovate, not round.

I did a considerable amount of research into valve springs and valve train assemblies in the mid 1990s. This research and the products that resulted from it, constituted the basis for my first U.S. Patent. #5546899. This research continues to this day.

In a nutshell, valve springs have mass, as does the valve, retainer, keepers, pushrods, rocker arms, lifters etc. More mass in the valve train requires more spring pressure to control this mass. More spring pressure results in higher wear of the entire system.

The answer is to add enough spring pressure to control the valve train without adding any additional mass. In fact reducing mass would have the same affect as adding spring pressure as far as control goes, without the additional wear.

Stock LB7 spring and retainer is 86.2g.

Stock LLY/LBZ/LMM spring and retainer is 80.5g.

Dual spring assembly with a Titanium retainer weighs approx. 84.5g.

My beehive spring with the same pressure as the duals and Titanium retainer weighs 55.5g. This represents almost 35% weight savings over the duals.

As you can see the dual spring system will float the valves far earlier in the rpm range than the beehive system, because the additional mass of the dual spring requires far more pressure just to control it's own mass.

This trend of lighter mass, more efficient valve springs is being followed in all forms of motorsports racing.

The GM LS series of engines is a perfect example of production engines using the beehive spring concept with great success.

Comparing pricing, our kits feature 32 springs, 32 retainers, 32 valve seals, and 32 hardened OD spring cups which replace the cheezy sheet metal factory shim.

As far as practical application goes, our springs have seen 300mph at the Salt Flats, 180 mph and 7 second blasts in the 1/4 mile and countless 5-6,000 rpm sled pulls and many 1200hp dyno pulls. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from there.................:D

Hope this helps,

Guy

Happy???

I pay Guy to know the best and put the best in my motor. ;)
 

duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
7,139
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Wyoming
Im just curious, but do you guys know what I meant by the transmission spring post? Its an inside joke from almost 4 years ago....

ben
 

S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
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Quncy, Fl
Both Guy and Curtis are really good guys and both have tons of knowledge of the duramax engine. Neither would steer you wrong so you've got to do what's best in your opinion.
 

othrgrl

Diesel Addiction Owner
Mar 10, 2008
2,151
4
38
Wilmington NC
www.mydieseladdiction.com
Buck's motors are built with an assortment of parts that include TTS valve springs on stock valves with the head work done at Burkette (spelling?) Racing of Kinston, NC. To my knowledge DPR heads and/or valvetrain parts are not at all a part of his builds, then again what do I know - he has only spent a few hours at my place while I got him set up with EFI Live and tunes for his LBZ.
 

Josh2002cc

That Uncle
Apr 2, 2007
1,832
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Happy???

I pay Guy to know the best and put the best in my motor. ;)

I was hoping to hear your personal opinion on this topic but yes, Guys post will do. It is a shame I already bought springs, maybe next build. :(
 

Josh2002cc

That Uncle
Apr 2, 2007
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dude- why dont you go back into your tranny section and find a way to make that transmission in your hoveraround go faster. you might score some with your ol lady if you could get there faster:rofl:

Sorry but that is funny, I don't care how old someone is that is funny