bytor

What could be causing this type of valve keeper wear pattern? Valve keeper pics. These are just under a year old and were installed by the machine shop the reworked my Vortec heads. This doesn’t seem normal to me and they actually look bent.

midyearvette

looks like they are wrong for your application and someone used a vise to make them work.....get a set designed for your valve stems and compare them....i could be wrong, but i agree with you that they look weird especially with the wear marks on the back side of the keepers..good luck..

Solid LT1

For such a small $$ item that can cause catastrophic results if they fail, you should pitch them right into the trash can. If your Vortec heads are stock, you should upgrade retainers and springs too. Competition Products sells decent stuff at a good price. What is your machinist telling you to do? what does he have avalible?

GOSFAST

Hard to say from the pictures, but they look like some "pressed-locks", if they are, they DO NOT belong in ANY perf application!! They also don't appear to conform very well to the retainers. May be a 2 part issue?

Normally when you see the 2 little "sharp" peaks at the top/center of each lock, this usually indicates "pressed" pieces!

Remember, I'm judging by what I see on a computer and monitor!

(Add) You should try to place some part numbers up here, makes diagnosing a little easier and a lot more accurate!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. This is very important here, ALL "Hi-Perf" app's today should be using "machined" locks! Pressed lock pricing is about $.01/$.02 per!

Eddie 70

I added the pics to this post. I agree, those are not the correct keepers.

bytor

I'm running (906) Vortec heads with stock retainers and valves with SDPC Z28 springs.

bytor

I have uploaded a a few more pics. Valve keeper pics.

Solid LT1

My honest opinion, you probably revved motor up beyond engineering threshold for rail guided rocker system and side loaded valve stem causing the deformation on the CHEAP A** locks GM used for a 350 truck motor.

Like I said before, the item you are asking about is pretty cheaply replaced with quality parts, if you cant afford $180 for new springs/retainers/keepers, you should sell your Vette and buy a KIA with a factory warranty.

I would also SH**CAN those stem guided rocker arms they are problems waiting to happen, they belong on a truck motor only.

GOSFAST

I'm not familiar with any of those conponents but I'll give you this: there's too much "gap" in that pair of locks on the assembled head, shouldn't be that "spread" apart!

I would suspect you have some mismatched parts??

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. I would also be very reluctant to use those "rail" rockers, as mentioned above, there's better parts in the arena to use!

73StreetRace

Most probably, those are not the correct valve keepers.
Perhaps they don't have the same angle as the retainers,
so they only contact each other in a small area,
causing heavy friction and wear of these parts ( visible hot spots ).

If you're not sure, buy a set of matched spring retainers and valve keepers. Not very expensive...
If only one of them fail at high RPM, the result could be disastrous for your engine, and for you !

bytor

Well, I am starting to figure out what’s going on now. I had a discussion with the folks at the machine shop and told them the valve locks didn’t look correct. Their response was “Yep there good, we install offset locks with used springs to improve used spring tension”. Well I immediately understood what was happing. First, the locks they used are crap. Second, the offset locks put the retainer bottom closer to the top of the valve seal. Being Vortec heads, this has my measured retainer to seal clearance at .040, not cool. I removed the offset locks and installed stock locks and measured again. That put me at a safer.120. As far as the springs go. After I had the heads originally serviced, the first thing I did was replace the used stock springs with Z28 springs from SDPC. When I did this, I reused the offset locks the shop installed without knowing they were offset or checking the clearance. I don’t see any other signs of damage, no bent push rods and the rockers look fine. But, I did notice the Z28 springs are not square top to bottom. Looks like they are about between 1/16 and 1/8 off. I didn’t check this when I installed them a year ago so I don’t know if they came that way or not. What else would cause springs to become not square?