Well i was driving to work today....and my car suddenly didnot want to go anymore. I pull off and park, turn the car off and car would not restart. After figuring out what could be wrong, i pull the Valve Cover off to find that in cylinder #1, the intake side titanium retainer was obliterated, the outermost ring onthe retainer was cut clean off (i'll post pics later), and the valve dropped into the cylinder...u guys know the rest. The only problem was this I dont beat on my car, and I was at crusing speeds of 70 MPH. Well i have already gotten another block and B16 head, im looking right now for ITR Intake manifold plus throttle body. Im willing to trade my JUN III with valvesprings and retainers (15 plus a brand new one). Cams are in great shape. I called JUN and they are going to take alook at the retainer. Seriously if i fugged it up I would say I did. But i didnt and titanium retainers dont take a **** on you, whether u beat on them or not. If anyone has what i need email me at badboyxxx2001@aol.com. I have cash as well as the cams and valvetrain.

 

wow.........i never thought a Titanium retainer would fail like that. especially one made by JUN.

probably a machining defect on the retainer.........

that really sucks though.........keep us updated......

 

I've seen this happen TWICE now.

 

Steve no one can believe it, not even JUN. All i know is that their part failed and my car is in worse shape than Afghanastan right now

 

Niiice

Another JUN horror story I hear of

 

Well i have been luck enough to get another complete block (b18c1) and ported and polished b16a head. Its going to be a bastard engine, (poor mans type r) I will be getting JE 12:5:1 pistons and either ITR or CTR cams. I have a set of GSR rods that were shotpeened and maganfluxed , they will beusing ARP rod bolts. This just sucks, one minute my car was running great, now its beat. Damn retainer!

 

Titanium is more brittle and more prone to this type of fatigue failure. This is the first time I have heard of one failing but knowledgeable racers have warned me that you should be careful when using them.

Regards,

 

its a good idea to disassemble and inspect them periodically.

I have only seen this kind of damage when the springs were binding however.

 

If i did get spring bind, that is bad...because i never revved past 8400 rpm, and since my bottom end was rebuilt not passed 7500 rpm. In a perfect scenario they would give their strocker motor j/k. No seriously the right thing to do is hook me up with what ever got destroyed by their faulty part. But this beeing almost 2002, ill get a sticker

 

Who said you have to rev high to get coil bind? The lift of the cam will be the same at 6500 as at 9500.

And I do recall a test done by Jeff where JUn springs bound using 12.5mm lift cams...Ill see if I can find the info.

 

Here is the link:
http://www.importreview.com/reviews/valvesprings.html

 

JUN shouldnt be distributing those valvesprings with those cams then. Because because in the end we all get fawked, or for now me at least

 

I'm sorry to here about your car BadBoy. I've had my JUN III Cams, retainers, & valve springs for about a year now and fortunately for me I haven't had a problem. I had them in my B16A2 and transferred them to my B18C1 and haven't had any problems at all.
How long were they installed before they failed? Could it be possible the mechanic might have f*d up when he installed them?
I'm not saying Jun's **** doesn't fail because nothings perfect. Just curious. I hope everything works out for you.

 

Yes that is very strange and I do not understand it either.
JUN3s has 12.5mm lift from what I have seen and heard...so their own springs dont seem to hold up to their cams.

 

ive had them in for over 4 months now, everything is fine except for that one retainer

 

think i had a similar thing happen to me...dont know for sure yet but we will see in about a week...although everything looks fine under the valve cover...

 

well that is the scenario
once i hear back from Jun
I will let you all know
as for the failure
the part looks like a crush washer
sounds like bind but the J3s are 12.0 lift not 12.5
thats Toda C unless I am wrong
and if the J3 pkg comes that way Im surprised mine had not failed after 8 track events and 3 beatdown days at WG
I my self am baffled
BTW Ralph enjoy my JEs and block

 

You guys have to remember that the install height is different between b16a
and b18c heads.

Its important to check install height when going with a setup like this to
avoid possible complications such as what has happened here.

Remember how every motor is different? so is the install height on different
heads.

 

This is why I use stock retainers and change them every so often(1 or 2 times a year, while I'm in there)

 

mike is so **** about certain things... heheh

i've had good luck with my crower ti retainers... had it for about... 2.5 years with over 35k miles. 9000 rpm, and 9500 rpm lately. holding up fine.

 

If it was spring bind, this should have happened a long time ago. The install height is correct for a p72 head. Just a case of either bad luck or bad parts. Anyway, im building a little nasty engine now:
B18c1 Block W/ balanced crank shotpeened and magnafluxed GSR rods with ARP Bolts. JE 12:5:1 pistons (with moly coated skirts and ceramic coating)
B16A Head (ported and polished)
CTR/ITR cams
ITR Intake Manifold
ITR Throttle body
DC Sports JDM 4-1 Header

 

It isnt something that will happen right away.
it takes time for the spring to eat away at the retainer.