I finally got my valve seals for the Vortecs today. I put em on and put the valves, retainers and locks in to check seal to retainer clearance. With the retainers that came with the Comp Cams kit I bought, total clearance was about .480", and Im runnin .490" lift! So I got to lookin at the stock retainers that came with the heads originally and I noticed that the center of the retainer that protrudes into the spring is shorter on the stock ones than the CC ones.

So I put the stock retainers in and amazingly, I got at least .515" clearance all the way around! I got over .540" 4 of the guides. First, whats the "recommend" clearance from retainer to seal at max lift? .030"? .060"?

Secondly, I dont see how (with stock valves, retainers, seals and locks) I get that MUCH clearance. Sallee's site says that they come stock with "Viton rubber positive seals, total 0.450” retainer-to-seal clearance". How did I get another .050" worth of clearance? Only other thing I did was relap the valves.

 

Had the guides been cut previously? Maybe before you got the heads?

 

nah, the guy I bought em from said he got them from the dealer, took them home and put em on his engine. Never disassembled them.

but what if I wanted to go ahead and machine the guide boss down. I think the comp cams tool #4732 would take care of the top of the guide, but what about the bottom part of the guide, the part that the bottom of the seal sits on? Would I also need to get #4726 ? Machine shop was askin a little too much to cut em down, and I kinda wanna do it myself.

I DONT want to enlargen the spring seat. The springs Im using fit, and they came with the cam kit so Im gonna stick with them until I change heads later down the road. I just wanna knock down the guide boss enough to get .550" total clearance, .490" lift with .060" clearance.

 

bump, anyone?

 

You should have .060" more travel than lift.

4726 is the guide cutter, 4732 is the arbor you put in the valve guide to "guide" the guide cutter.

 

ok, PLEASE dont get offended or pissed by this five7kid. I jsut want to get an understanding of everything. Why is it that Sallee's site says that it can take X amount lift with .030" clearance retainer to seal? Is that just a bare minimum, whereas the .060" would be a very safe clearance?