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Valves and compression

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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 10:31 AM
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Default Valves and compression

I was surfing throughout the internet earlier this week and I was reading an article were I guy was porting his heads. He was opening up the combustion chambers around the intake valve. He stated that it would help them flow a little better, but you will lose a little compression. He also stated that putting in a larger valve would help boost the compression a little. He didn't mean a larger diameter valve, but a stock size valve just a little thicker on the face of the valve to create compression. Anyone ever heard of this? Or tried this?
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 10:39 AM
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Maybe getting the valve higher up on the seat.
Okie guy from Youtube?

Some good stuff and a lot of hackery on the web imo head mods are dependent on application. Without being expert or having access to a bench really hard to tell if youre going in a + or - direction.
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 11:23 AM
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Originally Posted by cuisinartvette
Maybe getting the valve higher up on the seat.
Okie guy from Youtube?

Some good stuff and a lot of hackery on the web imo head mods are dependent on application. Without being expert or having access to a bench really hard to tell if youre going in a + or - direction.
I have been trying to find the link. May be it's down down. Who knows. I agree that bench testing is the best way to know. I never heard of a stock diameter valve, but beefier of the face to increase compression.
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 12:30 PM
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A thicker valve head would reduce cc of the chamber, but now your valve is heavier. Polishing the chamber and deshrouding the valve will increase cc of the chamber. You can offset either by milling the head some, using a thinner gasket or a dome piston.
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 12:34 PM
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Originally Posted by vetteOnTheRun
I was surfing throughout the internet earlier this week and I was reading an article were I guy was porting his heads. He was opening up the combustion chambers around the intake valve. He stated that it would help them flow a little better, but you will lose a little compression. He also stated that putting in a larger valve would help boost the compression a little. He didn't mean a larger diameter valve, but a stock size valve just a little thicker on the face of the valve to create compression. Anyone ever heard of this? Or tried this?
Essentially what the guy is saying is true. Anytime material is removed from the combustion chamber, the compression is decreased, although the gains from the cleanup will outweigh the near negligible decrease in compression. Using a thcker valve will increase compression, but as noted above, the valve will be heavier and the amount of compression gain would be negligible. An increase in compression of 1 point is worth approximately 3-4%. On a 300hp motor, that is about 10-12hp. The amounts you are talking about probably won't change compression more than a tenth or so.

Last edited by 383vett; Feb 13, 2014 at 01:39 PM.
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 12:40 PM
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Originally Posted by 383vett
Essentially what the guy is saying is true. Anytime material is removed from the compression chamber, the compression is decreased, although the gains from the cleanup will outweigh the near negligible decrease in compression. Using a thcker valve will increase compression, but as noted above, the valve will be heavier and the amount of compression gain would be negligible. An increase in compression of 1 point is worth approximately 3-4%. On a 300hp motor, that is about 10-12hp. The amounts you are talking about probably won't change compression more than a tenth or so.
Basically not worth the headache of fooling with the valves, unless your valves are bad. If you have bad valves, you probably have some other issues with your heads.
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by vetteOnTheRun
Basically not worth the headache of fooling with the valves, unless your valves are bad. If you have bad valves, you probably have some other issues with your heads.
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