I'm about do my head, and run pro2 cams. Head will be ported , milled .005, full Buddy club valvetrain and valves.

Should I run stock valve guides?

or

Bronze valves guides?


Are they worth their price?

any recommendations?


Motor is for drag and street

 

It seems that when going to stainless steel valves, bronze are recommended because supposedly the stock guides eat up the after market valves, and bronze guides reduce friction. I have HEARD of this happening but never knew anyone personally who experienced it.

If you're running stock valves, which IMO is almost always sufficient, then I don't think valve guides are necessary at all. Someone who knows more then I may want to chime in if there is actually a benefit to having them installed and in what type of application it may be a good idea to have them installed into.

 

If you were going to run some aftermarket flat faced valves i would say get them, but they are not required. most builders run stock valve guides UNLESS they are doing so kind of wicked NA or turbo build where 9500rpm will be turned all the time.

 

Most of the stock guides are old and loose so we try to get guys to spend the little bit of money to replace all the guides. The fact that they are bronze doesn't mean much as a performance gain, but they do have some heat dissipation benefits. Most important, it lets us set the valve to guide clearance, and there is sometimes power there.