Corvette Kid NC, I'm planning on upgrading my springs to the Comp Cams bee hives, and I'm a little confused on what steel retainers and locks to order. What retainers and locks did you end up using, and did the springs fit in the stock seats?

Thanks.
-Mike

 

Yes, The beehives fit right on the stock seats, they are only smaller at the top which has many advantages such as clearance and the fact that the retainers are very small and henceforth, light. The number I ended up using was 787-16. This is a 7 degree lock retainer. I had ordered some .050+ retainers w/ 10 degree locks since I was having problems getting enough installed height with the oversized valves to tone down the spring pressures enough, I didn't have cut seats. But the configuration of them only gained me about .005, not the .050 that I was hoping for. My concern was too much spring pressure but after a little running in (very easily) they checked within a safe range. Had I known what I was going to run into, I could have had PP&C cut my seats allowing me to shim as needed. But it all worked out as I now have 6K miles on the new heads and springs with no problems. CC has a lot of great info on their site but exact specs on their retainers, at least what I needed to know, was not among it. Their spring specs re/ seated and open pressures at various installed heights and lifts is great though. Find their break-in info for springs too, if you haven't already, something I never knew before. Get in touch if I can answer any more questions or haven't answered these clearly.

 

Great to hear others using the beehive springs. I installed a set on my LT4 and after much spring swapping/shimming/etc, I finally ended up with valve float free performance thru 6800 rpm. I stopped testing at that rpm, but bet that it will rev considerably higher before valve crash.

I suggest the steel retainers over Ti if you put any miles on them. Not quite the same situation, but I ran Ti retainers on a standard dual spring with damper and the retainers will erode after some miles-the springs cut into the 'soft' material. The local race machine shop said, this is expected...Ti retainers are throwaways after so much time. Seeing as my beehive steel retainer are same weight as my Ti dual spring retainer, I was content to stick with the more durable steel. Don't forget the spring being smaller diameter is also large part of why these work.

Many articles out there using them...HOT ROD, Vizard, etc. They appear to be the new technology for the hydraulic roller cam setups

 

Thanks guys.

 

I run the Comp Cams 986-16 springs, 740-16 retainers and the 611-16 locks. The 986's are a dual spring. These are the springs they recommend for the CC306 cam which has .544/.576 lift and I run these on a cam that only has .508/.534 so this could be an option for Hot cam users.

 

A lot of guys also us the tried and trued 987 springs as well. But I have heard good things about the Comp LS1 beehive springs. But I have not heard of any fitment issues with getting the correct seated heights.

 

There isn't one. The problem was because of oversized valves causing a loss of some potential for acheiving correct height with any shimming room. Had I known to have the seats cut some initially, there wouldn't have been a problem. Actually the beehives were the saving grace but I should have ordered a lighter set to begin with, I'd have had more range for height set-up. Kind of a one mistake on top of another situation but I finally made it work out. Up side? I learned a lot!

 

That's hot rodding. One change begets 2 others. We just live and learn.

RACE ON!!!