such thing as valve springs being too hard for my application? with teh 276 hyd roller cam and 1.6 rockers, i dont know anything about these springs that came with the canfield heads, except they are dual and 1.55" wide. im thinking they are for extreme applications, cuz i just cant seem to rev that high like i used too on stock heads and cam. anything over 5500 rpm feels really dull and it shouldnt be.

Get the valve spring that matches the cam.

And yes, you can run too stiff of a spring on a hydraulic tappet.

what would be the side effects of a spring that is too stiff?

bent pushrods? valve float?

seems im floating anything above 5500 rpm under load, could the stock lifters, also be a culprit in this issue?

if you don't know what you have replace them

Yes you can definitely have too much spring. Mostly, you'll end up trashing the cam, if it's not up to the task. I wouldn't worry so much about the hydraulic part, as much as destroying the cam.

Here's what happens to cast roller cores when you use too much spring. http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108696 about halfway down the page.

If your cam is the off-the-shelf XR276, with the part # ending in -8 (NOT the grind number, which ends in -10 or -14 or whatever), something like 08-xxx-8, then you have a cast core, which WILL NOT withstand ANYTHING greater than what its specs call for. If it's a billet core, part # ending in -9, then they'll probably be OK; although WAY more than you need, most likely. But, if it's the better core, then the springs you have are probably fine.

If you don't know what you've got, I'd suggest using whatever spring Comp recommends; use a spring cup or spring seat, whatever they can supply for the 1.45" spring, and the retainers and stuff for those.