Looking for help/info on spring retainers, I broke one

[lewtot184]

How much lift? Mine was considered somewhat big back in the early 80's at .660

.640 crower roller. I just isn't easy to set up a long scrub pattern. the more lift - the longer the scrub. plus the fulcrums get all ate up. they're early '60's technology and I don't think they work good with modern lobes and spring pressures. i'll give them one thing; they don't break.

 

[lewtot184]

I cleaned the rockers and see no evidence of contact except the rocker that hit the spring when the retainer failed. I also cleaned the other retainers to look for impact marks and found 2 others that are cracked and ready to fail.

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looks like a chrome moly retainer,....? never seen one break.

 

[RT K_line]

It appears that the lash cap is riding on the valve locks instead of the valve tip itself. Can you verify that the lash cap is in contact with the valve stem tip? If not the lash cap with hammer the locks until they and the retainer fail as you are experiencing.

What cylinder heads are these? Iron?

I did look at the lash cap fit and it doesn't look like they are hitting the locks. I will double check though.

 

[RT K_line]

looks like a chrome moly retainer,....? never seen one break.

Just my luck then, might go buy a lotto ticket now.

 

[451Mopar]

How well does that retainer match / locate the valve spring? Curious if the retainer steps are mis-matched for the valve springs?

 

[RT K_line]

Any ideas on what caused this. So far only on affected cylinder that I can see but the rain started to get heavy so I shut down. Never smoked or had any noticeable blowby.

 

[snakeoil24]

crack in cylinder or leaking head gasket or leak past head bolt.

 

[lewtot184]

Any ideas on what caused this. So far only on affected cylinder that I can see but the rain started to get heavy so I shut down. Never smoked or had any noticeable blowby.

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wow! cracked casting or head gasket let go. did the piston smack the valve? I've broke heads at the valve guide boss from piston to valve collision.

 

[IQ52]

I cleaned the rockers and see no evidence of contact except the rocker that hit the spring when the retainer failed. I also cleaned the other retainers to look for impact marks and found 2 others that are cracked and ready to fail.

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I was wrong, those are not the tool steel retainers.

 

[RT K_line]

.060" clearance between coils. i'm not in love with any of those iron rockers on high lift/high spring load cams. geometry can be a mess.

You mean 60 thousands total or between each coil?

 

[IQ52]

It appears that the lash cap is riding on the valve locks instead of the valve tip itself. Can you verify that the lash cap is in contact with the valve stem tip? If not the lash cap with hammer the locks until they and the retainer fail as you are experiencing.

What cylinder heads are these? Iron?

I think the head says Edelbrock on it.

 

[lewtot184]

You mean 60 thousands total or between each coil?

yes

 

[RT K_line]

wow! cracked casting or head gasket let go. did the piston smack the valve? I've broke heads at the valve guide boss from piston to valve collision.

I got the valve out and don't see any obvious damage. What/where would it be cracked. I'll spray some wd 40 then some carb cleaner nd wipe it down to see if a cracked shows up but I pried on the valve to try and feel if the guide had any movement but felt solid. Thans again for everyone's help.

 

[lewtot184]

I got the valve out and don't see any obvious damage. What/where would it be cracked. I'll spray some wd 40 then some carb cleaner nd wipe it down to see if a cracked shows up but I pried on the valve to try and feel if the guide had any movement but felt solid. Thans again for everyone's help.

you will probably need to disassemble the head to get a good look. could be the gasket or a crack in the cylinder? i'm just speculating from the pictures but that's water. have the heads been ported? there are, or least were, some exhaust port problems with cnc'd edelbrocks.

 

[RT K_line]

Looks like a 2.19 valve after all. I looked at the head and I can see the fire ring witness mark around the cylinder so I can't see a head gasket being blown. And the car ran consistent 8.1 in the 1/8,and the 60ft were all 1.9 which is slower than a few weeks ago but it was a no prep night at the track. No signs of running badly until it broke.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

I got the valve out and don't see any obvious damage. What/where would it be cracked. I'll spray some wd 40 then some carb cleaner nd wipe it down to see if a cracked shows up but I pried on the valve to try and feel if the guide had any movement but felt solid. Thans again for everyone's help.

You would not be prying on the valve to check the clearance,Not really sure how they check at the machine shop. But if the head is on the bench with the valve springs removed,move the valve from seated position and in inch off the seat moving it around and you can feel if it's tight,loose or smooth.

 

[RT K_line]

you will probably need to disassemble the head to get a good look. could be the gasket or a crack in the cylinder? i'm just speculating from the pictures but that's water. have the heads been ported? there are, or least were, some exhaust port problems with cnc'd edelbrocks.

They weren't ported, run out of the box as they say.

 

[RT K_line]

You would not be prying on the valve to check the clearance,Not really sure how they check at the machine shop. But if the head is on the bench with the valve springs removed,move the valve from seated position and in inch off the seat moving it around and you can feel if it's tight,loose or smooth.

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I wasn't checking for clearence I was checking for movement of the casting boss or guide.

 

[RT K_line]

I was wrong, those are not the tool steel retainers.

I have these retainers that were take offs from Eddy's I got from another member for my 906s before this happened. Do they look like chrome molly retainers to you. Thanks for your help.

 

[lewtot184]

I have these retainers that were take offs from Eddy's I got from another member for my 906s before this happened. Do they look like chrome molly retainers to you. Thanks for your help.

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they look like chrome moly. if those are edelbrocks then they use 8 degree locks.