I just got my head back from Ed's Racing Heads (great job, Thanks!) and 3 of my old Skunk2 valve springs were snapped in two! The funny thing is that I have been racing on this head for 2+ years and have no idea when this happened. Is it possible I've been running on 3 broken valve springs without knowing? The cams were Skunk2 stage 1's.




BTW: I'm really not trying to bash Skunk2, I've run this setup very hard. multiple 9500 rpm shifts. I'm just curious to know what and when it happened.


Modified by 6ghatch at 9:02 PM 2/11/2005

 

Question! Why do they look as if they were cut? It seems too perfect, like they all failed in the same position on the spring (i.e. Possibly someone trying to sell you a new valve train.)

Well its certainly possible that you were running these three broken springs. The inner springs are stiff enough to hold the valves and by the looks of things you had about 3/4 of you outer springs atleast providing SOME pressure. Your just lucky you didnt float the whole boat

 

Lucky you didnt tear anything up.How many miles did you have on them?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thevanitygroup &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Question! Why do they look as if they were cut? It seems too perfect, like they all failed in the same position on the spring (i.e. Possibly someone trying to sell you a new valve train.)
</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you look closely you can see they are not a clean cut, the edges are jagged. Plus, I had already purchased new Rocket Gen2 springs and retainers for the head.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92WhiteHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lucky you didnt tear anything up.How many miles did you have on them?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd bet about 30,000+ street miles mixed with 2 years of HPDE's and a season of Honda Challenge road racing.



Modified by 6ghatch at 9:04 PM 2/11/2005

 

Damn,you got some good use out of them!

 

Another thread about skunk 2 products going to ****.

 

 

hha **** happens, you should contact skunk2 and mail them ur broken ****, they will send you new stuff.

 

I have about 20 springs here that look just like that...(junk2's broke in the same spot as yours!)

 

you would think you would notice that when adjusting the valves? Wild! that sux
lucky for you it didnt break anything else

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 6ghatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I had already purchased new Rocket Gen2 springs and retainers for the head. </TD></TR></TABLE>



you going to be at VIR?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



you going to be at VIR?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, the engine won't be tuned and I'm swamped at work. Should be at CMP or something sooner for a test and tune.

 

do you have any closeups the the springs. plus where the proof tghat these are skunk2s. I'm sorry but these days every ones trying to sell some ones product by showing pictures of three springs cut almost identicaly. The only thing i could tell you is your springs were maybe binding and over time from high rpm's plus 2 years of wear or like someone else said inproper adjustment of the rocker. High valve spring pressure is a bitch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by masterx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you have any closeups the the springs. plus where the proof tghat these are skunk2s. I'm sorry but these days every ones trying to sell some ones product by showing pictures of three springs cut almost identicaly. The only thing i could tell you is your springs were maybe binding and over time from high rpm's plus 2 years of wear or like someone else said inproper adjustment of the rocker. High valve spring pressure is a bitch. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well I have nothing to gain by lying. I have a receipt somewhere from Skunk2 showing them purchased along with the Ti retainers, cams, and gears. The valvetrain was installed and tuned by George Ioannou (of Bullish Racing) in north Jersey.

Like I said before, I'm not trying to bash Skunk2. I'm just curious as to what would cause this.

 

Did you not ask Ed? Im sure he would be able to tell you for sure. How did your seats look? Thats a pretty good life for springs, most people dont realize that your springs loose pressure pretty quick. Titanium springs are only good for about three passes down the track then you trash them.

 

If they are all breaking in the same spot, it's most likely a bad design. Also, that area in the valve spring is fairly stressed out, so if you are using a cheap material, breakage would be the result.

Ryan


Modified by vtecvoodoo at 11:00 AM 2/14/2005

 

I asked Ed and he said it was broken before he got to it. The only thing I can think of is that during the last race of the season I missed a gear and reved pretty high, but it was not the first time that happened. Honestly, thinking back I'm surpised they lasted as long as they did..