Hey all, I hope you folks are enjoying the website we have tried to make it the fastest message board one the web.

I want to take this opportunity to make a comment or two about the bad batch of 918's from what was it, last year?

I have heard of 2-3 folks breaking these springs and LOSING engines, due to dropping valves and the resultant damage from the piston coming up and hitting loose valves.

Some of you folks are probably having problems breathing now... I'm NOT referring the the blue stripes but in fact I am referring to the predeccesor batch that caused some problems.

I will say that this point, it's not going to be the fault of shops for the most part, if at all if the springs were installed properly.

I was not asked to post this by anyone.

But it bothers me when I see folks having to replace shortblocks due to springs failing.

I forget the name of the person who heads up the spring program at Comp Cams, I believe it's Tom Murphy or something like that. I encourage him and Comp Cams (someone help me on his name email me anonymously if you prefer) to take a fair position when these situations pop up. Sirs, when folks drop a valve due to a spring breaking the cost of replacing a shortblock can run $1500 - $3500 depending on the deals folks can scrounge.

When GM had that bad batch of hotcams, the ones that weren't hardened, they gave folks new engines, just ask Mike Green.

If anyone from Comp Cams has a problem with this topic feel free to email me and we can talk, I have talked to a few of you guys there (Billy, Chris)... I look to Comp opening a file on claims like this and hopefully handling them as seriously as GM handled the batch of bad hotcams.

Thanks all for reading, let's keep this one at the top for a few days.

John Ryan
Owner Admin

 

Great Post John!!! I am in the process of building a New engine and my vendor wanted me to buy the 918s but After seeing how the problem was/was not handled I told him I was not interested in the Comp products. I know they make great products but I am investing 15k in an engine and I cannot afford to use a company that will not make good on their products. It is simple really one bad word of mouth incident like this will cost a company 30 times the price it would have to take care of the customer, and yes 30 times is an estimated figure but my industry feels it is close. On the other hand one customer that you take care of can be responsible for up to 50 times more business. Each customer that is satisfied makes a purchase and will continue to buy the products for as long as that person is in need of said products and he will tell all his freinds and their friends and so on. How can a company not stand behind their product? It beats the hell out of me.

 

Ozz, I think that Comp makes excellent products.

When it comes to LS1's, I have used three of their camshafts and three of their springs... 941's, 977's and 987's...

But I am only addressing this one issue, the bad batch of 918's from a while ago.

I think that since there are not many folks who had catastrophic engine failures that Comp can work with those individuals. Hopefully they have been working with folks over the last six months. In one situation it's clear that the only thing that broke was the 918.

I think the guy who heads the spring program is Thomas Murphy.

We can't go nuts every time a color outside the lines when it comes to making a car go fast, meaning we push our cars and sometimes they break. But we need a solid commitment from the aftermarket that they stand behind their products. I am not talking about a large number of cases, maybe just 4-5. But they are out there and they need some restitution. Let's see the big company stand behind the little guy.

 

To anyone's knowledge, has anyone who has had a catastrophic engine failure hired an attorney to pursue a legal action against Comp Cams? I think that they would have a good case provided that they could document everything.

 

From Comp Cams website, valve spring section:

We design our valve springs for specific applications because there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all valve spring. Valve train components are matched by testing the dynamic interactions between them using a cycle tester, strain gages, load cells, laser displacement transducers, high-speed videos and more. By doing this, we can assemble the best combination of parts for an application by reducing the stresses and increasing the life of each part in the system. We do all this so our customers can be sure they have the correct and best part for their engine.

Every batch of every part number is statistically tested when received to ensure consistency and eliminate batch to batch variations. This will help make sure that each time a set of springs leaves COMP Cams® it is the same as the last box of spring sent out in the same part group.

Valve springs are one of the most critical and most over-looked components in your engine. They must be matched to your cam in order for the engine to reach its full potential. It does absolutely no good to install a cam that will RPM to 8000, if you do not have the correct springs. The use of the wrong valve springs is one of the most common causes of engine failure.

Comp is claiming they actually test the springs. If a bad batch gets out, then either they didn't bother to test the batch or their testing procedures aren't what they should be.

"Every batch of every part number is statistically tested when received to ensure consistency and eliminate batch to batch variations.

Some one needs to be asking exactly what changes they are making to the quality control to make sure this doesn't occur again. There have been several batches of bad 918's over the years. Comp needs to get their act together on quality control.

Seems like Comp should do something to make it right when their defective parts destroy someones engine because Comp has a quality control issue. Comp also has several idiots working the cam hot line...but that's another issue.

With that said, all the more reason to go with Rev duals or 987's IMO, instead of 918's. At one point Katech, had an article posted claiming 918's do a poor job of controling the valve train around 6,400 rpm.

 

Were still persuing a settelment for over 1 year of phone calls, pictures of damage, parts that failed/broke and even after Tom and I got a hand shake and the word of the Managers and top R&D people from Comp so good luck, still pending.

Joe.

 

Was I right about the guy's name JPR, sounds like it. I was once in a conference call with him, one of the topics was the future release of the 918's!

I'll try to find his email address.

 

Great thread John! You've been very fair to all parties in your presentation, I hope Comp accepts the invitation to comment here....

 

GM has a bad batch of hotcam?!?!?

Tommy

 

Yeah, but start a new thread if you want to discuss that.

 

Oh, and thanks to the person who corrected me, the head of the spring program at CompCams is Thomas Griffin.

Now let me be clear.

If I buy something and plug it into a wall socket in my house and my kitchen burns up that microwave oven manufacturer is going to hear from me.

When I get 5-6 folks emailing me about how the "bad batch" 918's in their motor failed and in four cases killed their motors I think we need to hear from that microwave manufacturer.

I sent some emails over to folks at Comp to speed up some resolution.

As an aside, I am surprised we already have 320 views in 24 hours.

 

2 weeks ago i blew my engine due too a 918 spring snaping in half it cause the valve to break and went into the piston wall.

 

One of my friends had the samething happen too him too. that screw up and i hope comp cams make good for my motor and other peoples too because that just not right you get there parts and a bad batch of springs causes you too have get a new motor.Comp Cam needs too do somethings about this problem. they have good parts but 918's i will not use again. Also i would like too say thank you too Tom and Larry at Speed Inc. for helping me get a short block at a good price.And i would also like too say thank you to my friends that are helping me out too you guys know who you are.I am trying too posted pics of the damages that the 918's springs did too my motor. i hope to get them on here soon. if anyone know how i can you please email me thanks.

 

Blue stripe or no? What size cam?

 

No there where not the blue stripe. cam size was 224/224 .563/.563 114

 

Well, I ve got hand matched Isky doubles in my setup and I'll stick with them. I had them on my heads for 4 months before I got the motor torn down for some other project work and they were fine...test like new and ready to reuse. (and I do flog my engine regularly ).I ran a 228/228 580/580 @ .50 cam and they never missed a beat.

I had Crane single springs in before and they went to mush within 12 months. They didn't bust , but with 1.8 Crane 'Goldies', the ramp rate is excited beyond what they could cope with and this weakened the springs PDQ.

I've never used Comp Cams gear but I keeping hearing grumblings that there is some inconsistency in quality from time to time...maybe they need to look at their tempering and quality testing processes, somthings obviously amiss. I won't be purchasing any either until I hear that they are up to snuff. My current build is going to be an expensive one and I don't want a lousy spring ruining it.

So, are we sure that the 'blue stripe' 918's are a better spring now?

 

here are some of the pictures of what a bad batch of 918's did too my motor (918's without the blue stripe).

http://www.dos.org./dvsss99

 

Interesting to see this post, after all this time.

I'm one of the folks who had a catastrophic failure of a 918 last summer. It occurred two hundred miles into a breakin period for a new H/C setup from ARE (upgrading a previous package they had done for me). I suffered a catastrophic loss (hole in NEW LS6 head, punctured same cylinder piston, etc.) which Comp Cams would NOT compensate me for.

I ended up building an ARE 436; Wade went out of his way to make that affordable, and swallowed a chunk of the cost to help me out of a bad situation. In fact, he was the only person involved in the whole debacle who acted with a bit of grace.

As far as I'm concerned, Comp Cams let the LS1/LS6 community down in a major way.

I might add, there are NO single springs on my setup now.

Good luck with this quest; it would be nice to get a little restitution.

 

People need to be aware that just because they do not have a "blue stripe" 918 does not mean that they have ones from the bad batch either.

The first runs of 918s going back to the summer/fall/winter of '01 are doing just fine from what I've seen. I got my 918s back in Nov/Dec of '01, and here we are over 18 months later and some hard miles with a B1 cam and no problems. Mine are not noisey either.

I am not the only person who has had an '01 era 918 set last for a long time without issue. Infact, I don't know of anyone that broke any of the early 918s.

If you have 918s that were produced in the spring or summer of '02, and do not have blue stripes, then you may have cause for concern. But I don't see any reason to worry about the earlier 918s.

I have no plans of replacing my 918s until at least the 30-40K mile mark. I think it's just a waste otherwise. Granted, I have a rather mild cam by today's standards though, and the motor never sees over 6400rpm, plus the car is almost never at the track. Perhaps for a car that is raced often replacing the springs more regularly would be best....

 

*UPDATE*

I talked to Thomas just now, and he was helpful.

He said if anyone wants to get a hold of them to call Red Obert at extension 577. I suggest that folks mention 'ls1tech' in their phone call or email, I asked Thomas to email Red and let him know that 2-3 guys might attempt to contact him.

I really hope that helps.