update: i pulled all the springs, couldnt believe the amount of trash i found. my wife must have been driving the car for some time with them broken. there was alot of damage to some of the valve guides and valve stems. with so much damage i think im going to pull the engine and get as much crap out as possible. get the guides fixed.

looking at the springs, i couldnt see any indication of coil bind on the inner or outer springs. and i was wrong in original post, it wasnt 13 springs broken, it was 15. the lone survivor looks shorter than i remember. if i remember correct, the inner and outer springs were close to the same length, but is no longer. is this an indicator of something? any thoughts are appreciated guys.

 

The only things I can think of are:

Hardish driving on a cold motor
wrong sized seats allowing the spring to move around
wrong dia retainers

When I took a set of 317 heads apart that I bought I found that bronze guide seats were used and the springs had shifted around a tad. Fortunately the seat pocket kept them mostly in place.

 

Not sure if this has been asked, but how many miles were on the springs and what loves are you running? There's always the possibility they wee just fatigued.

 

Looks like an associated spring. They make a lot of our competitors LS springs.

 

there is about 3000 miles on the springs, no reason they should be fatigued.

associated spring? not sure what you mean.

 

Holy S***
What a mess.
I agree you need to pull the engine disassemble and clean.
Check the cam and lifters read good. No doubt there was loss of valve control.
I'd look real close inside the oil pump too. The only thing keeping trash out of it is the screen on the end of the pickup.
Bummer.

Associated is a company that makes all sorts of springs including valve springs.

Also, welcome home.

Ron

 

In addition to the clutch being worn out: When you pull the engine, check the trans internals, u joints...Wifey may have had more than an occasional missed shift. Rear tires gone??
A few too many of those, and your springs would be on the losing end.

 

Did you buy the entire spring kit from Comp or just the springs?

Please post a picture of retainers and locators that were used.

Also if you have a caliper post the step diameters.

 

Once you get it all repaired, I'd make a point of not driving anywhere until the engine has warmed up at least to the first tick mark (about 150*). Make sure the wife is well aware of that since that's most likely the only thing she unknowingly did to shorten the valve spring life. I would have to believe you either had a bad batch of springs, and/or the valve springs were not set up correctly for you to have such a valve spring failure.

Good luck with the rebuild!

 

it was purchased as a kit through the late thunder racing. i dont have a caliper available. included a pic of the invoice.

 

btw mr. tooley, i have already purchased and received a spring kit from you. thanks for the fast shipping! great price too.

 

Can't beat Brian... His springs are amazing. He taught me a few "poor boy" tricks on setting them up and shimming as well... Awesome guy to deal with.

 

Thanks for the business!

I wish I could figure out what went wrong on the Comp springs. Maybe it's just the sloppy .520" ID locators letting the inner springs contact the seals? Or a combination of other things that have been mentioned.