Had a set of Howard’s electric plated performance springs fail. The #2 exhaust broke a spring and I found metal in the drivers side. I have it on a lift so I’ll be doing plugs and swapping all the springs. I’m trying to figure out where the metal material came from, maybe a seal didn’t see any rockers with damage.

 

LOL, I didn't know this was your screen name.

Some of that looks like the valve seal.

 

ouch...hope no pieces went "into" motor....

 

Yea, I just changed the oil a couple hundred miles ago. I’m sure some worked its way down to the pan, springs will be here today.

 

So it looks like its valve seals, and the damper spring material. going to put a different type of seal on them and check the lift again.

 

If the valve stem post has not been machined down to .500 you may need to pull the damper springs from your springs. Valve stem seals are available in the .500 size

 

So about half a dozen valve seals failed and all the dampers were broken.

 

Ouch!!

KW

 

I recently installed a set of these. Was told to remove the inner spring to avoid damage to valve seals.

Any info on the cam and rockers you were running?

 

1.6 rockers look to be an early pro mag rocker.

 

....you pulling main & rod caps to check if any metal got "into" oiling system??

 

I should pull it apart, but it’s 100% stockish car so I’ll have to pull a lot of stuff to get it out. I have access to a machine shop and lift so I would rather drop the kmember.

I’ll probably just change the filter/oil again and drive it, but I agree that it would be smart to clean it all up. We got most of it out of the heads, but I know some of it has made it down into the sump.

 

Hi Fex, your problem is NOT one broken valve spring, all the springs are damaged.
Did you fit spring seats designed for your springs ?
Did you machine the spring pad flat OR is it "stepped" ?

I would fit some of my magnets used to collect debris in the oil.

The cause is poor design or installation, a bad match of lift/spring choice, another problem not observed.

Lance

 

Like Lance said, you have more of a problem than just broken springs. There is a reason they all broke. Your motor is a ticking time bomb if you just run it after pulling out that insane amount of metal.

 

OP

IDK which Howard springs you have but clearly the damper spring inside them had contact with the valve stem seal. Beyond that IDK if the spring meets whatever cam (lift) you have and if the springs were installed at their spec height.

Many aftermarket springs are spec to install at 1.800" height. Stock heads don't accommodate this unless the spring pockets are machined down. So if these springs do in fact have a installed height spec of 1.800" and they were installed shorter (1.7xx") than their lift ability at that lower installed height is less than spec.

Also heads can have the valve stem guide machined down also for a narrower valve stem seal (.500) often for some double springs or springs with damper springs. IIRC people who used the Howard springs were advised to remove the damper springs if using on a LT1

Given the amount of metal debris you have recovered...there is VERY likely more still inside the motor that will only cause further damage....possibly terminal damage.

Valve train set up & geometry along with GOOD quality parts is mandatory for any motor and if not right...stuff like what happened to you will happen.

I would look into the "inside" (pull pan at minimum) for what may be remaining inside and pull some bearing caps to see if any bearings are scored

If you just slap this back together it is a total crap shoot but a strong chance something else will happen as a result. If you do this monitor oil pressure to see if it is now low due to grooved bearings...if so the motor lifespan is very short

 

The camshaft on 1.6 rockers is right at .550 lift, it had .600 clearance. The springs are not the same specs as the last ones the installed height 1.8 for these.

I bought the car as is, so all I've been doing with it the last year is driving it.