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what the hell is going on with Comp 918s????

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Old 06-06-2007, 04:53 PM
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here's mine...
Old 06-06-2007, 05:54 PM
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took my 918's off this past weekend and swapped them to patriot gold duals. as i went to change the springs for fear of word around about the 918's and once the valve covers were off i found 6 broken springs. five of the six were all cracked off on the top coil the sixth one had a crack in the middle of the spring. now i don't care what anyone says in defense of the comp 918's cause i have an a4 with about maybe 1000 miles since they were put on and i have been building engines for atleast 7 years and never had a spring fail this fast. in my opinion the comp 918's are garbage and if you have them in your car i'd suggest swapping them out or atleast pop the covers off and check them out.
Old 06-06-2007, 06:48 PM
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Well, I have made my decision -- My Comp 918's will stay in the box. Too many stories of these breaking under extreme and not so extreme setups. I have heard of a few LS6 springs breaking here and there but nothing like the Comps. Anyone else hear of any other springs breaking? I heard of a crane 832 breaking and for what it is worth I have NEVER heard of a Patriot Gold dual breaking, but that is a mack daddy of a spring.
Old 06-06-2007, 07:54 PM
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Just for my own information since I have a set of these sitting in a box too. Would it be cost effective to possibly have them cryo treated or treated with a coating to help with the fatigue of the springs or is it just cheaper to upgrade?
Old 06-06-2007, 08:37 PM
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I have run many sets of 918`s in the past with no problems at all . With that being said the last 3 guys I know personally who looked had broken ones and didnt know it. They were daily driving there cars and only looked because of these posts. My 918 springs were purchesed a couple of years ago so im not really worried. It seems like most of the broken ones were purchesed on the last 10 - 12 months. If i wsa running a newer set of these springs i would defintly check. remeber what I said the 3 guys I kow that found bad springs would still be driving around with no clue if it wasnt for posts like this one.
Old 06-06-2007, 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Quick Double Nickel
Just for my own information since I have a set of these sitting in a box too. Would it be cost effective to possibly have them cryo treated or treated with a coating to help with the fatigue of the springs or is it just cheaper to upgrade?
Get rid of the springs and buy new ones. Its not worth it or sell them to one of the die hard 918 people.
Old 06-07-2007, 12:15 AM
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I guess only 1 person knows the batch # of the broken springs? I've had mine on since december, they probalby have 3-4000 miles on them tops. I pulled the vavle covers and they all looked fine. Did all of them break within the first 1000 miles?
Old 06-07-2007, 12:27 AM
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speeddemon? Can you post a digital? I would be interested to see others springs.
Old 06-07-2007, 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by 03EBZ06
speeddemon? Can you post a digital? I would be interested to see others springs.
Mine all look fine so far. I was just wondering when everyones springs broke? Mine were off the car after ~1000 miles when I got my heads ported and re-installed. He said all the spring pressure was fine and everything, and it's been ~2000 miles since that so I'de say my springs have 3000-4000 miles on them tops. My batch # is 051791
Old 06-07-2007, 03:24 PM
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I'll be checking mine tonight outta curiosity. They have about 5,000 miles on them. I will also post up my batch number. I bought them in december from TSP.

James
Old 06-07-2007, 08:53 PM
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I am now inserting my foot into my mouth.

I removed driver side valve cover and everything looked great....I thought to myself "hah, I knew mine were good".
I removed the passenger side valve cover and what do I find...I freakin broken spring, only one, but I have now been proven wrong and am not immune.
Let me take this time to say that I have never once taken my car over 2000rpm until it has reached full operating temperature. I have not once bounced off the rev limiter. I drive my car slower than probably anyone I know. I have raced the car no more than 15-20 times, these would be the only times the car sees north of 3000rpm and no higher than 6400rpm.
I am going to get a set of PRC or Patriot duals ASAP. I strongly urge anyone who has these springs to atleast check them, I am definitely glad I did before I lost a valve and consequently an engine.
My Batch number is 049045.

Good luck to the rest of the 918(time bomb) users
James
Old 06-07-2007, 11:08 PM
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Holy !@#$ -- I think Pandora's box has been opened. Who knows how many are out there running on broken springs. You all sleep well tonight.......
Old 06-08-2007, 12:35 AM
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Another related thread:

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513691

For those who have had failures, please post when they were purchased, or if you don't know that, when they were installed.
Old 06-08-2007, 06:43 AM
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I was just wondering, have any of the broken springs occured with the comp titanium retainers or all with stock retainers?
Mine were installed with stock retainers.

To bad COMP Cams doesn't have a way to email them. I believe they are going to loose alot of business with this product line.
Old 06-08-2007, 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by sbs
Another related thread:

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513691
For those who have had failures, please post when they were purchased, or if you don't know that, when they were installed.

This is my post from CZ28.com
Again Lloyd Elliot built my heads in Nov 06 so I can rule out an inexperienced head builder. The three springs went bye bye in UNDER 20 miles on my brand new 355.

My engine builder talked to Comp and was given information regarding possible bad batches of 918's. When I talked to Comp I was giveen a different story by the same guy, he simply stated that this was an isolated incident and that they would be replaced.

The springs Lloyd sent me were PAC springs, I sent the 918's back to Comp and said no thanks. I was running the regular steel retainers.

Last edited by wrd1972; 06-08-2007 at 07:37 AM.
Old 06-08-2007, 09:35 AM
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Funny side note.

Dodge has had some problems recently with the new Super-Bee's breaking valve springs and eating motors, most within the first 1000 miles or so.

I pulled my drivers side valve cover to look and I didn't see anything out of place but my car(SRT-8 Charger) was built mid July. All the 6.1 Hemi's have the bee-hive springs on them from the factory but I'm not sure who makes them. Probably the same el-cheapo outfit that comp is using now knowing DCX.

I'm a nervous nelly and probably going to get a set of PAC's to replace them.

Last edited by 95ttoplt1; 06-08-2007 at 11:53 AM.
Old 06-08-2007, 09:36 AM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Jeckel
I was just wondering, have any of the broken springs occured with the comp titanium retainers or all with stock retainers?
Mine were installed with stock retainers.

To bad COMP Cams doesn't have a way to email them. I believe they are going to loose alot of business with this product line.

Seems like it doesn't matter if the retainer is stock or titanium. 03EBZ06 in this thread posted his 918's broke using the titanium retainers and now your broke with the stock retainers. What gets me is how quickly these things tend to break. Some of these are breaking right away after being installed. Buyer Beware.
Old 06-08-2007, 12:16 PM
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I just counted up between this thread, other recent threads that have mentioned this issue on other forums and other people I know personally with cammed LSx motors...

TWELVE incidents of 918s failing in the last couple months...From what I've seen, not a single one was exceeding the suitable cam specs for these springs.

if you're still skeptical that a problem exists at this point, i don't know what else to tell you...
Old 06-08-2007, 01:36 PM
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I just ordered some patriot extreemes, if my springs were made before the supplier change I wouldn't have thought twice about this thread, but since mine were I don't feel like risking my whole motor over running 918's.
Old 06-08-2007, 04:14 PM
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For those of you still wanting to run a single beehive spring for weight & harmonics reasons, I'd highly recommend using the Isky Toolroom Springs (aka PSI-LS1511 springs). They are PSI "maxlife" springs and IMHO IMHO IMHO are MUCH more durable and higher quality than Comp 918s. This is coming from a number of firsthand and secondhand experiences with persons using PSIs.... Just another option for ya'll.


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