Precision Valve Spring Install

How do you nail the right seat pressure on every single valve? Watch me do the whole job here. The math is in the video. The tools are in the video. The process is in the video. I detail how you use all of this to nail the seat pressure that's recommended by your camshaft's manufacturer. You may buy valve springs that are rated for X install height at Y pressure, but that doesn't mean they'll produce that result once you install them in your head. It's your job to fill that gap and do it right. This is how.

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I show tricks for simply skipping all the retainer tip height math, how to find and adjust your spring install height, how to use the differences in manufacturing tolerances of every individual part to your advantage, and once again I prove that even Microsoft Excel is also an engine building tool. You've seen me use it before for other things. As usual, I just made this spreadsheet up as I went along. Added extra stuff to it for options and alternatives. Showed you all the formulas so you could figure out how to make one of your own. I spent about 4 hours making it pretty enough for video, but it probably saved me 20 hours with a paper and pencil, and of course a whole lot of mistakes. If you employ a spreadsheet to help you do the math correctly, then your only responsibility is keeping it in sync with your work. It's useless to you if you get out of sync.

Do not recommend places for me to host the file. I'm not interested in connecting my identity to a public download page, and all of the free ones expire. Anyone doing this and claiming to be me is a fake.

The Proform 66776 Valve Spring Tester is around $650-$700 shipped. At least it was when I bought it in the middle of the pandemic. Holy cow I got ripped.
https://www.google.com/search?q=profo...

The Goodson Valve Stem Height Gauge is about $270 shipped.
https://goodson.com/collections/measu...

I would advise you to shop around for the 3-2-1 blocks. Some are extremely expensive, and depending on the kind of work you do, you may or may not need certified and registered blocks, but mine weren't, and I checked the with my calibrated micrometers to find they're spot on. They're easy to find.

The Mitutoyo 129-127 0-4" depth micrometer was around $170 + shipping.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Mitut...

The Mitutoyo 500-196-30 0-6" .0005" resolution calipers were $132 shipped new. I pretty much got ripped there, too.

We all know the Harbor Freight calipers are under $20.
https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-di...

We also know the Stearlite 7240 ice cube tray.
http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduc...

Springs I used were Kiggly Street Steel

Kelford TX 264 Camshafts

Many people will probably think after watching this that they have to get their valve installation right to the thousandth of an inch like I did. They don't. The engine will run fine if they're off by a few thousandths. Wear over time will even cause the spring loads to drop slightly. The goal here is to get as even of a starting point as you can. What you watch me do isn't something most machinists are willing to trouble themselves with, but with the aide of the offset digital calipers, the math was so easy, why not spend the extra time showing you how if it's your thing?

As each valve opens and closes, it transfers its spring load onto the cam lobe, and therefore the bound and rebound pressure into the camshaft. All I did here is make every valve play the same exact beat. By equalizing the valve spring pressure, you normalize the vibrations caused by the valvetrain. You don't eliminate it, you just make it all the same, and you try to just make as much vibration with them as they need.

Seat pressure is a slippery slope. I won't give you a rule of thumb other than to say to use *at least the minimum seat pressure specified by the camshaft manufacturer*, make sure you have enough headroom to avoid spring bind, and if you're going to run ridiculous boost pressures, your valve spring seat pressures need to go up or else you risk blowing your intake valves open. If you unnecessarily increase the seat pressure beyond what's required, you shorten the life of the valvetrain. Too little seat pressure even on stock boost levels can cause valve float (blowing them open). There is a razor's edge for perfection. HOW you USE the ENGINE determines the sweet spot, and within 10% above minimum seat pressure, you're typically safe. I spent 10 hours doing this job with 3 cameras and abbreviated as much as I could. I hope this example can help others make good decisions setting up their own valve trains.