I pulled the valve cover off for the first time in a while today to inspect my Supertech AL retainers and valve springs and I was surprised with what I found. I have around 5k miles on these and only one road race event, so this really pisses me off. ***** at Supertech told me these would be great for a street car before I bought them and would last as long, if not longer than titanium retainers, so I really had high hopes. I am going to contact Supertech for a replacement but they are coming off the car tonight since I have to make a 300 mile trip back home tomorrow. Has anyone else that is running these AL retainers had issues with them?

 

Well that's no good...i hope it works out ok for you

 

one word....ferrea. (call them up and THEY will take care of your needs)

 

damn i was going to buy a set of those... now im not sure

 

Thanks. The stockers are back in now and that was the only f-ed up retainer.

I'm broke, so it's back to stock. I'm going to sell everything off once Supertech sends me a replacement (hopefully) and set the rev limit back to stock.

lol, you could just buy mine. But seriously...I've heard nothing but good things about them, so hopefully this is just an isolated incident.

 

quoted for the truth

 

did ***** know it was gonna be on a turbo'ed car thats road raced? that seems like alot of stressed for aluminum retainers. im sure he will replace them though.

 

wow...imagine what would of happened if you didn't checked on them.

 

Yes. I told him I would be making around 375whp and would road race it occasionally and I was concerned about wear since it is sort of a daily driver. He assured me they would be great for my application, so I never second guessed it.

The way it sheared off suggests to me that it was just a defective retainer. The rest are in perfect condition, so I am reluctant to blame my setup on the failure.

 

Yep. Valve enters combustion chamber and then we all know what happens then...

 

Wow, good thing you checked them out ...

 

have you located the broken off piece yet?

 

No, I haven't. It wasn't in the head and there was no indication that it stayed in the head at all since the cams and the other springs/retainers are all fine. I am assuming it is in the oil, so I am draining it right now. If I don't find it, it will have to wait for another day when I drop the oil pan.

 

You are one lucky dude,get those thing out of there ASAP and demand a refund.

 

AL retainers scare the crap out of me, i cant see any benefit.

 

Hmm if the piece of Aluminum broke off in the head how would it be able to make it to the oil pan? Maybe i am not thinking cause it is late....Would be cool if it dropped down through a open valve at the right time and incinerated itself in the combusion chamber.

 

I personally think you are smoking crack... You can't get something from the head inside the combustion chamber. And yes it can make it down to the oil pan no problem. I would remove the oil pan. Not worth blowing a motor over 10 min oil pan removal...

 

deffinatley on crack...If the pieces fell to the oil pan.....they would make it past the pickup or oil filter.

Ive rev'd a set of titanium supertech retainers past 9k to many times to count and there fine.

 

wtf are you talking about

 

I have received two emails this morning from *****. He tells me they have never had a failure like this before and he is more than happy to work with me on this issue.

 

Incinerated in the combustion chamber you are kidding right. Do you have any idea how impossible it is for it to get into the combustion chamber let alone the damage it would do.

OP I hope everything works out for you. I vote titanium next time.

 

ummm why did you pick AL over Ti ????

 

The price and 15 degree locks appealed to me. Sport bikes have been using AL retainers for a while, so I figured they would hold up to a mild turbo setup.

 

If I were you I would go with a CrMoV retainer. Supertech makes them.

 

lol but the movement in the vavletrain is less distance.