<img src="images/icons/confused.gif" border="0"> Comp Cam 941 Valvesprings
I hear:
1.) there a great spring
2.) they've been on the car for 12K miles with
no problem
3.) There not as bad as people make them out
be
4.) they will work just fine with our "560" lift
sponsor cams

then i hear:
1.) i broke one after 200 miles
2.) they're crap and i should go to a 918 spring
3.) they're H-11 steel. yeah so?
4.) They wont last long with a semi big lift


My 941's have currently 7900 miles on them. Haven't had a problem yet. I dont want to knock on wood, cuz that means that i would be lucky. do i have to be lucky with these springs? I wanted to do a cam swap soon. Thinkin bout going from my cam(212/218 525/529) to say a cam with more duration and lift. Do i have to replace springs again or will these 941's work just fine?

thank you

[ January 15, 2002: Message edited by: SSBoy ]</p>

 

Jack, if you are going to be changing springs out, I would install the Comp 918s with their 772 Titanium retainer. These seem to be working really well on the cars we have installed them on. These will be the same springs I'll be going with when I do swap cams out.

FWIW, I got nearly 10k miles out of my B1 cam and 941s before I sold them and went to the solid roller setup. I had 0 issues with them.

[ January 14, 2002: Message edited by: Jason99T/A ]</p>

 

Some people have broken 941s. I think there are two reasons. One, some say that there was a bad batch that went out a while back and many broke. And two, I think some that have broken them were because they did not allow the oil to get to full operating temp before going to high rpms and/or WOT.

I bought 26918s for my B1 (221/221//.558/.558//114) as MTI recommended them for this cam, and the 772 ti retainers just for extra piece of mind. I don’t think I’ve heard of any 26918s breaking yet, but I believe some have broken the 26915s (which in my understanding are just a stock replacement spring). If you already have 941s and they’re fine then might as well keep them for that new cam. If you get new springs though, get the 26918s. 772 retainers are optional though, the stock retainers will fit just fine but I like super light retainers!

 

Jason & RPM WS6
Thanks guys for the writeup. Jason its good to know that you had 0 issues with those springs and they were working fine with your B1 cam. WS6, you've got a good point. If there working right now, might as well leave them in there for a while.


just outa curiosity, how do u know if you break a valvespring? Is there a noise, ses light? Can u blow the motor by breaking a valvespring??

 

You’ll know <img src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" border="0"> The car will run like crap (like you just pulled a spark plug wire totally off) and you’ll be able to tell something is very, very wrong. You could do serious damage to the valve/piston by it smacking it against the piston (once the spring is broke), but that will be more or less of an issue depending on your piston to valve clearance with whatever cam you have and weather or not the heads have been milled for more compression. Fluid contamination (gas getting into the oil) could also be an issue.

 

[quote] but I believe some have broken the 26915s (which in my understanding are just a stock replacement spring).
<hr></blockquote>

The 915s are better than the stock springs, but are not able to handle the .56X lift fast ramp cams. I haven't heard of them breaking, but there are documented cases of valve float with them on the big lift cams.

 

[quote]If there working right now, might as well leave them in there for a while.<hr></blockquote>

Probably not the best idea. You never know when a spring will break. Could be 5K miles, could be 20K miles. I wouldn't take that chance if I were you. Especially since I have lost an engine to a broken spring before.

[quote]just outa curiosity, how do u know if you break a valvespring? Is there a noise, ses light? Can u blow the motor by breaking a valvespring??<hr></blockquote>

Which brings me to your next question. Yes, there is absolutely no way a valvespring can break and you not realize that something is wrong. There will be a lot of engine noise and probably an SES light. And, YES you can destroy a whole engine if a spring goes bad.

My suggestion to you is to ditch the 941's and get some 918's with the lightweight titanium retainers (stock size). Save yourself a lot of pain down the road and give yourself some good peace of mind.

For what it's worth, I know a handful of guys personally that have the B1 cam and have had multiple 941's break on different occasions. None of them run that spring anymore.

-Kris

[ January 14, 2002: Message edited by: 99WhiteSS ]</p>

 

[quote]Originally posted by 99WhiteSS:
<strong>

Which brings me to your next question. Yes, there is absolutely no way a valvespring can break and you not realize that something is wrong. There will be a lot of engine noise and probably an SES light. And, YES you can destroy a whole engine if a spring goes bad.

My suggestion to you is to ditch the 914's and get some 918's with the lightweight titanium retainers (stock size). Save yourself a lot of pain down the road and give yourself some good peace of mind.

For what it's worth, I know a handful of guys personally that have the B1 cam and have had multiple 914's break on different occasions. None of them run that spring anymore.

-Kris

[ January 14, 2002: Message edited by: 99WhiteSS ]</strong><hr></blockquote>

Are you talkin 914 or 941 ?

 

Just FYI, I ran 941's with my T1 hard for a year without any problems at all.

I've just switched to 918's for my new cam (230/236 .591/.601 112LSA) and the car has been running great since November with those on there.

Dunno why some springs break and others don't.

 

Guys,
this is some good info! It almost seems as if i should change those springs just for the hek of it. I definitely will change them if i decide to upgrade my cam. It sounds like the 918's are the way to go. I haven't had any problems with my springs right now..but who knows..

when i take off my 941's can i test them somehow to see how strong they are? to see if they were on the verge of cracking/breaking?

 

Sorry, bad fingers, all of the "914's" in my previous post have been replaced with the intended model number, "941."

Like I said before, I wouldn't even play with the 941's. Go ahead and swap them out with the 918's.

Yes, you can test the springs coming out although this may or may not provide any information either way. You can have the spring pressure tested at any machine shop or performance engine building shop. They should all be nearly the same and within at most 2-4% of the original specified seat pressure.

Good luck with it, but lose those 941's!

-Kris

[ January 14, 2002: Message edited by: 99WhiteSS ]</p>

 

[quote]Originally posted by SSBoy:
<strong>Guys,
this is some good info! It almost seems as if i should change those springs just for the hek of it. I definitely will change them if i decide to upgrade my cam. It sounds like the 918's are the way to go. I haven't had any problems with my springs right now..but who knows..

when i take off my 941's can i test them somehow to see how strong they are? to see if they were on the verge of cracking/breaking?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Lets remember that each spring has a open & close pressure. These need to be taken into account when you buy springs for a cam. Just a thought. How long have the 918's been out? Anyone have them on for 10,000 or 20,000 miles?

 

I believe the 26918s (918s) came out in October of last year.

 

So i doubt anyone has had them on the car for 10K miles(918) springs. hmmm..thats something to think about too.

My 941's only have 7500 miles on them(not ALL racing miles) and the lift on the cam i have in is only 529. Im wondering if i put a new cam in, if this spring still has another 10K miles in them.

having to buy new springs along with the titanium retainers comes out to be the price of a new cam practically.

 

With the 918's though I don't believe that you would really have to buy the titanium retainers cause the stock ones fit fine. Can anybody answer the question on how the titanium retainers help you? would it translate to extra hp? extra safety? would an engine have to rev really high to see the benefit of the titanium retainers??

 

Weltall,i run my 918s with the stock retainers along with a buddy of mine. The lightweight retainers will add a little more power in the higher RPM band and will take weight off the the vavle train giving them a little more life. At the time when we got the springs the titanium retainers were not out yet for the 918s.

With the stock retainers i figured me and my bud would see a little valve float close to the revlimiter on our dyno pulls. He tested his springs first with the Hammer cam and dynoed to his 6700rpm revlimiter with no valve float or deeps in the curves in the higher rpm band. I took mine to my 6800rpm revlimiter with the same results. These springs seem to be very rigid and strong right out of the box and are rumored to hold a .600 lift cam with no problems. So far im very happy with them,just hope they hold for another 15K miles or so <img src="gr_stretch.gif" border="0">

 

I think you can count on 918s lasting a long time (especially if you get the 772 ti retainers) from the results that I've seen/heard so far. How many miles? I don't know as they aren't that old yet, maybe 25K, 30K, 50K, who knows? (yet). But I'll bet that they'll outlast a set of 941s.

 

[quote]Originally posted by SSBoy:
<strong>So i doubt anyone has had them on the car for 10K miles(918) springs. hmmm..thats something to think about too.

My 941's only have 7500 miles on them(not ALL racing miles) and the lift on the cam i have in is only 529. Im wondering if i put a new cam in, if this spring still has another 10K miles in them.

having to buy new springs along with the titanium retainers comes out to be the price of a new cam practically.</strong><hr></blockquote>


I have been running 918 valve springs since August/September. The springs were put on at 32k (give or take a few) and the car now has 50k on the clock. I have had no problems with the springs. My only gripe is that the titanium retainers don't fit as snug as the stock and as a result give off just a little bit more valve-train noise.
The springs have taken a couple of top speed runs and some excessively hard miles.

 

NoGo, Comp has revised the 772 retainers since the early production version due to the same problem you and others were having. The revised 772 retainers fit much better. We have installed a few sets of these (918s w/ the 772 Titanium retainers) with great success.

 

[quote]Originally posted by Jason99T/A:
<strong>NoGo, Comp has revised the 772 retainers since the early production version due to the same problem you and others were having. The revised 772 retainers fit much better. We have installed a few sets of these (918s w/ the 772 Titanium retainers) with great success.</strong><hr></blockquote>
When was this revision done? I just ordered a set of the 772s last week. Any chance there could have been some old ones left over that I might have gotten, or were they revised long ago? Thanks for any info...