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Hello
I recently picked up a Z06 that I'm rebuilding, my heads are with my machinist currently and he is installing bronze valve guides along with stainless steel intake and exhaust valves.
After doing more reading, I’m second guessing that setup. Some people say stainless intake valves are fine, while others strongly recommend sticking with titanium.
This will be a street car, I have BTR Stage 2 V2 cam with BTR .660" platinum dual valve springs. I’m also looking into rockers — is oem fine or do I need johnson rockers? The heads are 67cc heads.
As for valves, I’ve found brand new OEM titanium GM valves for about $90 each, and I’ve also come across Manley titanium valves. The Katech valves look great too, but they’re quite a bit more expensive.. so if the others are fine that would be best.
I'm just trying to figure out the best setup for reliability for a street car. I’ve read that new GM Ti valves can wear out bronze guides faster, which is throwing another question..
Any insight or recommendations on which direction to go would be much appreciated. Just want to get this build right the first time.
Nothing wrong with doing stainless steel valves you just may want to run a little stiffer spring like .685 lift spring. The titanium valve is lighter which makes them a plus but stock titanium intake valves require lash caps.
Now Manley makes a titanium valve that has a hardened tip that doesn't require the use of lash caps but last time I checked they were going for about $1400.
I have Br7 heads on the LSX and they have DelWest titanium intake valves and the exhaust valves are stainless steel. It also had PAC .660 lift springs and they worked well with stock rocker arms with bronze trunnions.
Last edited by 01CamaroSSTx; Apr 18, 2025 at 10:25 PM.
Nothing wrong with doing stainless steel valves you just may want to run a little stiffer spring like .685 lift spring. The titanium valve is lighter which makes them a plus but stock titanium intake valves require lash caps.
Now Manley makes a titanium valve that has a hardened tip that doesn't require the use of lash caps but last time I checked they were going for about $1400.
I have Br7 heads on the LSX and they have DelWest titanium intake valves and the exhaust valves are stainless steel. It also had PAC .660 lift springs and they worked well with stock rocker arms with bronze trunnions.
Thanks for the info! Yeah 1400 is pricey! same with the others hmm. I did talk to my machinist earlier and hes going to check the intake titanium valves that were originally in my heads and if they check out then he will reuse those. Are bronze guides ok to use with those? I am going to run stainless only for the exhaust ones if those end up being usable.
btw is delwest the original ti valves? im new to the ls7 stuff.
I have tried to get a definitive answer, but I would say ……. Don’t use stainless steel stems with iron guides. If they are chrome plated——- you will be OK until the chrome wears off. Then the stainless steel and iron guides will gall. With good bronze guides you will have no worries. Just might have to replace them sooner. Usually they recommend roller rockers with bronze guides.
hope this helps.
Yes, the factory LS7 head came with DelWest titanium intake valves and I disagree with the statement of the use of stainless steel valves with steel guides, especially when LS3 heads utilizes stainless steel hollow stem intake valves and those heads use steel guides just as the LS7 heads used steel guides.
Manganese guides are actually preferred over iron guides especially when using stainless steel and titanium valves due to their ability to dissipate heat and reduce friction because the bronze is a softer metal. Regardless of what direction you choose to go having proper valvestem to valve guide clearance is important.
Last edited by 01CamaroSSTx; Apr 20, 2025 at 09:32 PM.
If you go with steel roller rockers and or the stainless valves go with guy said above the .685 spring 1207x or 1208x for the extra weight. If you stick with OEM titanium - DO NOT FORGET THE LASH CAPS. Texas Speed makes a good steel rocker arm but you need a little more spring to control is like was mentioned above. The roller tip helps with the side load especially as spring loads get above 400 pounds open..
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What valves for my ls7? 
