Valve guides

[05stroker]

Wich are the best and how hard are they to swap on a 3v head? Also what are the diference between the diferent guides?

 

[US-1]

That's machine shop work. Silicone bronze works fairly well and lives quite a while.

 

[05stroker]

That's machine shop work. Silicone bronze works fairly well and lives quite a while.

Yea ,I would have a mach shop do it but I was wondering , are they just pressed in?

 

[US-1]

Pretty much. Press old ones out and press new ones in. Then redo the valve job.

 

[05stroker]

After reading this I might just stick with the liners.http://www.aa1car.com/library/ar696.htm

 

[US-1]

Just need to check the concentricity of the factory guides first along with how much wear they currently have.

 

[mike@livernois]

Silicon Bronze and Mangenese Bronze are two popular choices. We prefer to use bronze guides because they offer better heat transfer and the ability to run tighter clearances. They tend to offer great wear resistance too.

When doing a full guide replacment it is very important that the correct procedures and steps be taken. Making sure to get the old guides out without damaging the guide bores is critical. Then re-installation of the new guides is another area where maintaining the correct geometry in relation to the valveseat is very important. Any small errors in these processes can yield a damaged or unusable product.

If done correctly though bronze guides offer performance advantages over stock guides in most all situations.

Thanks
Mike

 

[MexGT]

How much for a set of 24 bronze valve guides Mike?

 

[Freaknazty]

How much for a set of 24 bronze valve guides Mike?

+1 that and the ( stock size ) ss valves themselves too

 

[05stroker]

Silicon Bronze and Mangenese Bronze are two popular choices. We prefer to use bronze guides because they offer better heat transfer and the ability to run tighter clearances. They tend to offer great wear resistance too.

When doing a full guide replacment it is very important that the correct procedures and steps be taken. Making sure to get the old guides out without damaging the guide bores is critical. Then re-installation of the new guides is another area where maintaining the correct geometry in relation to the valveseat is very important. Any small errors in these processes can yield a damaged or unusable product.

If done correctly though bronze guides offer performance advantages over stock guides in most all situations.

Thanks
Mike

Mike If you have the bronze guides and they have had liners installed "correctly" are there any advantages of replaceing the guides vrs the liners?

 

[mike@livernois]

The bronze guides are $75 dollars for a set. They need to be finish honed or reamed out to the correct size on the ID for the valvestem to guide clearance.

Thanks
Mike

How much for a set of 24 bronze valve guides Mike?

 

[mike@livernois]

+1 that and the ( stock size ) ss valves themselves too

The only stainless valves we have at the moment are the +1mm intake and exhaust valves. Technically the exhaust are a super alloy like Inconel. We don't currently have any stock size aftermarket valves. They are Manley.

Let me know if you are interested in them at all and I can get you some pricing.

Thanks
Mike

 

[05stroker]

Mike If you have the bronze guides and they have had liners installed "correctly" are there any advantages of replaceing the guides vrs the liners?

Hmmmmmm........

 

[mike@livernois]

Mike If you have the bronze guides and they have had liners installed "correctly" are there any advantages of replaceing the guides vrs the liners?

So then are you talking having a bronze guide with a liner in it or a bronze guide versus a liner in a stock powdered metal guide?

Just trying to make sure I am thinking the right thing here.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Cali HP Addict]

Hey Mike, what is your take on the oversized valves and iron guides? I have this combo and might have a sticking valve.

 

[05stroker]

So then are you talking having a bronze guide with a liner in it or a bronze guide versus a liner in a stock powdered metal guide?

Just trying to make sure I am thinking the right thing here.

Thanks
Mike

Bronze guide with a liner.

 

[ChevyKiller]

Hey Mike, what is your take on the oversized valves and iron guides? I have this combo and might have a sticking valve.

I thought you had bronze guides, Cali?

That could be a problem right there. When the heads are getting done, the builder has one option, pound out the stock guides and custom fit a new set of guides.

Sometimes, what they will do is leave the stockers in there in which case extremely bad because they get tweaked in the porting process or they will pound out the iron guides, look at them and think they are fine and pound them back in. The trouble is once they pound them out and pound them back in - they will never be 'perfect'.

Putting them - even new ones - is an art form IMO and it is VERY EASY to get them 'off' slightly if not putting them in perfectly.

In this case (them being slightly 'off') - it may be something that's not noticeable till time or wear or noticeable issues right away - it all depends. Bottom line is the guides are very tricky and should be done by the pros - but even 'pros' make mistakes...

 

[Cali HP Addict]

I have new iron guides. They are a post Chevykiller episode design so they pressed them in after the port job and diddn't cut them off. My heads were checked, valve job and surfaced during the last build also.

 

[mike@livernois]

Bronze guide with a liner.

Gotcha,

If I was doing it myself I would stay away from the liners and stick to the solid guide. The main reason is that when you put in liners and then fit them to the guide so that they stay put you can sometimes run into issues with getting a nice tight fit into the solid guide you are fitting them to. The problem is that if the liner is not seated into the guide correctly then it will act as a barrier to heat transfer between the guide and the valve.

Again a lot of this has to do with procedure and installing everything correctly. So yes liners can be made to work but I would always opt for the solid guide if it were my choice.

Thanks
Mike

 

[mike@livernois]

Hey Mike, what is your take on the oversized valves and iron guides? I have this combo and might have a sticking valve.

I am pretty sure we are talking the valve head diameter as oversized and not the stem. In that case there really should not be that big of an issue with that setup if the guide clearance is right. The cast iron or powdered metal guides are very durable and will last a very long time in a stock configuration. The only drawback is you have to run a little more clearance to keep them alive versus a bronze guide. This is somewhat dependent on the material used in the bronze but in most cases you can run much tighter clearances with the bronze setup because the bronze material itself is better at metal to metal contact than the cast iron or powdered metal guide. With minimum lubrication the bronze guide will survive and wear very well.

Mostly though it depends on the application, there are times when a harder non-wearing guide is a better choice and then there are times when a slightly softer material guide that can wear a little bit is a good choice. For most all of the applications that we are talking about here as they relate to street driven high horsepower modular engines the bronze based guide is the better choice.

Thanks
Mike