IPUNCHBABIES

Tried using google to get some info on this, But came up with mixed reviews... Titanium retainers are said to last between 20-30k miles then have to be replaced due to wear ( chipping, cracking, ect...). Stock retainers also can fail due to the pressure put on them by the upgraded springs. My question is can dual valvesprings be used with stock retainers ( new ones of course.)?


NO dumbass answers!!!! I would like a good reason behind answers you post.

Fabrik8

So if stock retainers can fail with uprated springs, and dual valve springs are upgraded springs, stock retainers can probably fail with dual valve springs.

Just out of curiosity, why aren't you considering anything other than stock retainers or titanium retainers? Why aren't you looking at stronger aftermarket steel retainers?

IPUNCHBABIES

Thanks fabrik8, But I should of been a little more detailed on my finding... OUt of all the post I have read, It was only a few who had problems w/ the stock retainers on upgraded valvesprings. I saw where one guy has had 0 problems with the stock retainers and takes it up to 9200k all the time, and another guy had his whole valvetrain explode due to using stock retainers. Do you think its a assembly issue? Also upgraded steel retainers are another option I would like to look in too, But I cant located them... I'm about to jump on google again and do some more searching.

Fabrik8

Crower makes some, I think Ferrea does too, maybe Supertech. I think they're mostly made of 4140 Chromoly I think, I can't remember.

You have to realize there are a LOT of variables that come into play with valvetrains when trying to figure out whether the stock retainers will work. Valvesprings come in lots of different spring rates and rate profiles, so it's dangerous to just make generalizations about springs that are higher spring rates than stock. The cam profiles also dictate the spring travel and valve acceleration (and therefore the spring acceleration), and have a big effect on valvetrain harmonics. All of this is affected by RPM obviously too. So if the valve springs aren't much higher rate than stock, and the cam profiles aren't much different than stock, the stock retainers probably have enough headroom left to take some extra load without problems. They may not do it for hundreds of thousands of miles like they would with the stock drivetrain, but they may last a very ling time anyway.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's very hard to know how well the stock retainers will do with known-higher spring rates and cam profiles, especially without knowing how close the stock retainers are to their operating limits. I know it's often hard to beat OEM parts for quality, but that all goes out the window when you take them above the loads they were designed for..

If you can get quality 4140 retainers from a really good company like Ferrea or Supertech that are designed for high rate springs, that's probably the safest way to go.