Vette Moto

I have a very short commute to work. By the time I arrive at work, my oil temperature is barely 100 degree. With this type of heat and cool cycle in freezing temp, what impact, if any, will this have on the life of valve springs?

Btw, I have comp cams double valve springs for my high lift LPE GT11 cam. I get nervous that one of these days, it's just going to snap from the lack of oil temp warm ups. I have 15,000 miles on the springs so far and plan to change them out after 40K.

Brian Tooley Racing

iTrader: (13)

Based on what I've seen, yes the springs are sensitive to colder temps.

For what the springs cost versus what a engine cost, I would recommend changing them every 20K miles with the cam you're using.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

Well I couldnt think of a better person to chime in on that question lol.

SSickLS1SS

why not just let the car warm up longer?....

NIKDSC5

iTrader: (10)

What he ^ said!

4doortypels

iTrader: (39)

Perfect person... yes... this thread was over before it started. Mines garage kept. It doesnt leave till its operating temp. Hot cold whenever its started.

mild83

What temp do you all wait o start driving?

MN_V

iTrader: (5)

Best thing you can do is get it going under load as soon as possible within a reasonable time period. Just drive it easy, shift early. In cold weather (<20), I let it idle about 20 seconds before driving.

From my experience in MN you can let it idle for 20 minutes in cold weather and the fluids won't be as warm as driving it easy for 5 minutes.

Bio248

the only way to actually get the car to heat up and the heat to start working is to drive it. letting it idle in my garage or driveway in winter would take entirely too long and i'd have to let me "loud" car idle for all my neighbors to hear at 630am. not happening.

mild83

haha. I usually let it sit for 5 minutes, then drive very easy until it's about completely warm. My neighbors do not like me taking my V to the gym at 445 am.

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

sounds crazy but what kind of factory block heaters were available on the LS series engines or were there any?

ryridesmotox

Get a heating blanket and wrap your baby in it when you tuck her in at night...

Vette Moto

Some good info here. I've thought about a block heater but can't seem to find any good information on this?

Also, is the metallurgical process of aftermarket springs as good as the process the big auto makers use to make their valve springs? Factory springs, for the most part, seems to go on forever without ever needing replacement.

Some may argue, "well your camshaft is different and aggressive", but in my mind I would say that my valve springs are designed to accept my camshaft life rate (0.650 vs 0.644), so then why would my situation be any different than someone running a 0.568 lift camshaft using springs designed for 0.600 lift and these guys seems to drive 50K+ miles before changing springs?

Brian Tooley Racing

iTrader: (13)

Because the lobes on your camshaft are not designed for street use, I copy and pasted the exact verbiage from the Comp Cam catalog below.

The LSK Series has been designed with enhanced characteristics from our latest professional drag racing profiles. These
have excellent ramp quickness. They are VERY hard on parts and not generally recommended in street applications!

A .600" lift lobe can be designed that's easy on parts and it can be designed to be hard on parts. You can't look at lift alone, you have to factor in ramp speed or peak acceleration/velocity.

isis

iTrader: (1)

I've found the same in pittsburgh. I idle it for maybe a minute till the seat warms up and then slow cruise it. The trans and rear diff doesn't warm up at idle so whether the engine is warmed up or not, you shouldn't rag on it in the cold until you drive a few easy miles.

Vette Moto

Oh, drag racing profile?

I wasn't aware the LPE GT11 cam had an LSK lobe. Lingenfelter told me the GT11 cam had a street profile and was designed for daily driven cars. That's all I knew and I am certainly not a cam guru in any way, so I took their words for it. Well, that's definitely interesting LPE used an LSK lobe for a "street profile"!

Here is a link of the camshaft I have:

http://www.lingenfelter.com/mm5/merc...7#.VGZtm8m6hLk

Vette Moto

That is true. I keep my shifts below 2,000 RPM. I might just have to start finding a longer route to drive to work to get my oil temps up. It's already lower than usual due to the low temp thermostat and programmed radiator fan that activates at lower temps than factory.

DarkCharisma

It might just be dogma on my part, but I've always let my engines idle for at least a few minutes when it's cold out to avoid excessive wear due to low temps. I figure it gives my seat heaters, defroster, etc. time to warm up, a little bit of time to get oil circulated. Might not be necessary with modern engines, but it couldn't hurt.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

The logic is counter-intuitive on this one. You actually can contribute to more wear by letting your engine idle because idling while cold causes more fuel to get into the oil. Driving the car at low rpm, low load within 30 sec of starting is much better. As you said, this is a modern engine, it's meant to be driven. People who are not car enthusiasts (the vast majority of America), don't even think about things like this. Do you see their motors dying left and right? Nope.

Goosecaddy05

yeh imo the worst thing you can do is let your car idle to warm up... just start it, let the oil pressure build which only takes about 10 secs... then off you go, just don't goose it and cruise at bout 2k rpm to keep a high oil pressure without going to high rpm wise... cold started engines need oil pressure... cold idle is causing TONS of extra wear