Results of some valve spring research
08-24-2004, 08:44 PM
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Staging Lane
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Results of some valve spring research I have been reading some engineering articles on the internet about springs. So far I have found three useful facts:
1. Fully compressing or prestressing the springs at operational temperatures before installing them increases there fatigue life.
2. Shot peening the springs or "electrolytic polishing" will also
increase the springs fatigue life.
3. Any scratches on the spring will reduce its fatigue life.
#3 seems to imply that dual spring, since they rub on each other and thus scratch each other, would inherently loose some of their fatigue life because of scratches.
This spring search is turning into a catch-22. A single is too weak to prevent
valve float and is too brittle and breaks easily. A dual will get scratch up and fatigue and break. I am starting to think it is impossible with the current state of metallurgy to create a "drop-in" spring that will handle the XER lobes for more than say 10-20K miles. Can an LS6 head be machined for much larger diameter springs say 1.5" diameter springs?
1. Fully compressing or prestressing the springs at operational temperatures before installing them increases there fatigue life.
2. Shot peening the springs or "electrolytic polishing" will also
increase the springs fatigue life.
3. Any scratches on the spring will reduce its fatigue life.
#3 seems to imply that dual spring, since they rub on each other and thus scratch each other, would inherently loose some of their fatigue life because of scratches.
This spring search is turning into a catch-22. A single is too weak to prevent
valve float and is too brittle and breaks easily. A dual will get scratch up and fatigue and break. I am starting to think it is impossible with the current state of metallurgy to create a "drop-in" spring that will handle the XER lobes for more than say 10-20K miles. Can an LS6 head be machined for much larger diameter springs say 1.5" diameter springs?
