I'm planning to raise my Redline to 9000rpm with a chipped p28 ecu, but before I do that, I need to swap out my stock Valvesprings and get some Skunk2 Valvesprings.

Now I heard stories of people bending or crushing their aftermarket retainers such as Portflow, Crower, Skunk2, etc. I also heard that using STOCK Retainers, and aftermarket Valvesprings (Skunk2 in this case) are a good choice as well.


Can anyone verify? I plan to just get the Skunk2 Valvesprings and run my stock retainers with these Stage 1 cams.

 

i ran stock retainers shifting at 9,000 without a problem but i would upgrade, its better safe than sorry... when i finally upgraded i went with PortFLow then i was able to shift at 10,000 all day long

 

stock retainers good enough to 9. all the other companies break because they are titanium retainers.

 

I cracked a stock retainer revving to 9k all the time, luckily it didn't break. Ti Retainers are a wear item, and they aren't that expensive, I have yet to hear one breaking. I've only heard of them galling from bigger cams and stiffer valvesprings.

 

Ti retainers should be fine when they are installed correctly.

 

does your car still make power after 8000 rpm?

 

i broke a stock b16 retainer. snapped in half.
made like 10 passes and was all fine. then just normal driving home it broke and dropped a valve.

KA-PLUEY!!!

i switched over to crowers after that. springs and retainers. VERY good up to 10,000.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Type R Bob &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ti retainers should be fine when they are installed correctly.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The problem with Ti retainers is that they are a soft metal(note, I didn't say it wasn't "strong" which refers to the modulus of elasticity). Their hardness is less than the steel valvesprings, so they gall and get thinner. Eventually they will fail right where the valvespring contacts them.

This is an inherent problem with the material, not installation or manufacturing problems.

You can get them nitride coated for not alot of money(search in the ITR forum, there was a big post on it) and that increases the hardness quite a bit. The coating will eventually wear through though, so they're still a wear item. Yet nitride coating will make them last, say 2-3 years as opposed to about 1-1.5 years.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AzSi22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I cracked a stock retainer revving to 9k all the time, luckily it didn't break. Ti Retainers are a wear item, and they aren't that expensive, I have yet to hear one breaking. I've only heard of them galling from bigger cams and stiffer valvesprings.</TD></TR></TABLE>
yea my bad on saying that titanium retainers will break. I said that he can take it to 9 because i always hear people taking their stock retainers to 9 (itr outer portflow inner stock retainer) to 9 but i guess its not a good idea.

 

Roger Foo used OEM ITR retainers on his Skunk2 setup in his EG for the Speedvision World Touriong Car Championship races.

no joke.
I am sure they changed them often, but I vote for OEM ITR retainers.

 

All B series (vtec) stock retainers are the same, just FYI

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AllmotorJunkie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does your car still make power after 8000 rpm? </TD></TR></TABLE>

yes it does.

 

As posted above, Ti. Ret are a wear item, kind of like your clutch. You will need to kep an eye on them. They will wear away, and will need to be replaced. I run JUN Ti. Ret, (yea they are expensive) but they last longer than any other i have seen, plus i dont like ot mix and match parts, i like to stick with one compnay (ie jun cams, jun cam gears, jun valvesprings, jun ti ret). however JUN has come out with a newer type of Ti. Ret. which is coated and resists wear, however they are even more expensive.

 

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

The problem with Ti retainers is that they are a soft metal(note, I didn't say it wasn't "strong" which refers to the modulus of elasticity). Their hardness is less than the steel valvesprings, so they gall and get thinner. Eventually they will fail right where the valvespring contacts them.

This is an inherent problem with the material, not installation or manufacturing problems.

You can get them nitride coated for not alot of money(search in the ITR forum, there was a big post on it) and that increases the hardness quite a bit. The coating will eventually wear through though, so they're still a wear item. Yet nitride coating will make them last, say 2-3 years as opposed to about 1-1.5 years.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No question titanium is softer (I realize that doesn't directly coorelate to strength), but installation undoubtedly makes a tremendous difference in the longevity of the retainers. They wear faster than stock, but the rate of wear fluctuates based in large part to the installation.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by owen_the_soyboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> but I vote for OEM ITR retainers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

itr retainers=gsr and b16 retainers

if you ever mis-shift or are in mid-turn and need to rev out to a lil higher, it helps to have ti retainers.

ti retainers wont stop your engine from grenading, but it might help the possibilty of stoping valve float.