as the title says really, the valve retainers for my b18c6 keep forming cracks and bend outwards ready to shoot out, its the second time its happend and iv been fortunate enough to spot it early because of a rebuild after it lost compression after 3-4K exactley like last time.

they are stock type r dual springs/valves/retainers but running obx stage 1 cams.

* has this got something to do with the higher duration/lift cams running stock valvetrain?
* can i get away with replacing only the full retainer set with either chromoly steel, aluminium or titanium?
* or is it something that needs performance race springs/retainers?

this rebuilding passion is turning into a ball ache..HELP!

 

OBX cams, probably the problem....lol
But I don't know the specs for OBX cams so they may or may not be safe for stock ITR springs. IMHO it's pretty dumb to run stock springs with any aftermarket cam...

 

The only reason i didnt upgrade the valvetrain is because theyre such mild cams and obx say its not required.

 

Pics of retainers?

 

What specs are u running for the valve lash/adjustment? If they're too tight you may be ruining them because your oil clearance is barely existent causing them to get extremely hot from constant,harsh friction. Check clearance and lmk. Pm me if anything

 

how high are you revving with these cams and valvetrain?

 

I reacon the problem lies with those pile of **** camshafts. Like I said on ek9.org, throw them away....

 

I think u may be right rich, after closer inspection of the cams, 2 head rebuilds and three retainers later it turns out that the obx cams are a load of **** like everybody said. I havent even done 10k with them but the lome noses are so worn that they are flattening out and also eating my rocker arms, no wonder after 2-3k from new i noticed a performance/sound dip and thats due to the lift being reduced via lobe wear and the fact that the lobe nose is not curved but squareish. It could be that they were bottoming out the springs on max lift (which would explain wear on cams, rockers and stressing out the reainers) but then theyre only stage 1's and stage 2's could have been sent by mistake so who knows.
I hold my hands up like a man after i was sticking up for obx after everyone was writing them off and became a guinea pig for them so i take all that back.
I have pics of the cams etc but dont have access to a pc to upload the pics but as soon as i do i will...i feel ****ed over by obx but now you know to stay away from their cams and take it from somebody who was bitten first hand!!

 

P.S. All valve clearances, timing, lube/breakin procedures, good quality oil and 3k mile changes intervals were done incase somebody says something else or lack of it caused it.

 

I doubt anyones going to argue about the fact that it was those cams

 

what did you set the valve lash to?

 

Post pics of retainers.

 

in for pics.

 

I see... just stay away from the crap man... You've learnt your lesson now...

Good luck.

 

heres the pics. on one retainer there are tiny cracks that the camera could not pick up and look at the lip created from the cam lobe on one of the pics aswell as the 'squarness' of nose.

 

Sounds like valve "float" per sae. That flat spot on the cam im sure puts a beating on the valve stem.

 

OBX uses really poor quality castings to make their cams. I would bet if you put a SK2 Tuner 1 or CTR cams in there it would fix the problem. The Type R valve springs are pretty decent and do just fine with milder cams. I have seen Tuner 2 cams run with Type R springs with no issues for several years of DD and track use, kept the rev limit at 8800 RPMS though for reliability.

 

Upgrade the Retainers. Could be that valve lash is too tight. Are you sure you checked it correctly?

Seems liek something is way off on those cams for there to be flat spots like that. MAybe the center lines are off when they were ground. Or possibly there just warped there shouldnt be flat spot like that something is not right. Did you torque everything in proper sequence?

 

The cams are crap. Thats it.

 

Yeah i tend to agree..I have seen some success with blox but looks like you got a bad batch

 

Obx is not blox

 

psssh lol. clearly i am not reading correctly today i was thinking Blox this whole time. OBX cams? Man what are you thinking that is 100% youre issue. He should switch to some Blox Type A's if youre trying to save money. Replace the damaged retainers. Hopefully you didnt damage anything else.

 

I would say OBX is the issue here. Skunk2 Stage1 cams do just fine with OEM valvetrain.

 

Iv had to put a b16a2 head n cams on an itr, because two intake galves were bent because the damaged retainers were locked in and a pipe for leverage on spring compressor was used so shagged the valves..

 

I dont speak spanish lol not really understanding what ur saying. Get those cams out and put in something OEM or if you have the money get some Blox A's or Sk2 tuner 1's. Replace the damaged retainers.

Keep OBX away from any Engine internals....