I have upgraded to 1.6 roller rockers but stayed with the stock valve springs since the shop told me it was not necessary. There is alot of members that talk about spring binding. How would I know if this is happening with my set-up.

 

A little math is needed. Calculate your new lift and determine what the max lift for your springs are.

Need more info on your car.....

 

It's a 90 with stock heads and cam. How do I find the max lift of the stock springs

 

Or if it is back together, you can measure it. Coil bind is when the spring stacks solid at or before the valve is at maximum lift. You can check for clearance with a feeler gauge between each of the coils in a given spring. When the valve lift is close to, or greater than the installed height, you have problems.

RACE ON!!!

[Edit] While that last sentence, that I italicized during this edit, isn't technically incorrect, it is gibberish.

 

To calculate your new lift all you have to do is divide your old lift by your old rocker ratio and then multiply back to the new rocker ratio.

Example, my LT4 Hot Cam is spec'd at .525 lift with 1.6 rockers. Divide by 1.6 and that gives .328 cam lift. Multiply by 1.7 and I can see that my lift with my 1.7 rockers is .557, so you just have to figure out what the stock lift was supposed to be.

"Coil Bind' is the absolute end of the road for a spring, it means that all of the coils physically touch each other and it cannot be compressed any more. In this case something else HAS to give. It usually manifests itself in the form of bent or broken pushrods. Just because you are not at coil bind though doesn't mean that you are really safe.

You should always maintain AT LEAST .050" between maximum valve lift and coil bind. This allows enough of a safety cushion should something go wrong. What could go wrong you ask? Say for instance you miss a shift or actually hit the wrong gear, your revs can easily skyrocket for an instant. As the valvetrain is suddenly accelerated to such a high rate the inertia of the parts can actually carry them beyond their normal maximum lift, and you could in fact hit coil bind. Keeping that safety cushion there prevents things like this from happening.

I'm not so sure about the L98 but I know it is a very bad idea to change rockers on the LT1 without also upgrading the springs. Although it technically will "work" you're on borrowed time. Maybe one of the L98 guys can tell you a little bit more info as it pertains to your exact setup.

 

Using the stock CAM lift from my 89 which is .2733I/.2820E your new 1.6 rockers will take you from .410I/.423E with 1.5s to .437I/.4512E with the 1.6.

Not sure if the 90 CAM lift is the same as the 89 though so those numbers may not be right for you.

I think however that the stock springs in the 113 heads are good for .480-.490 max lift.

If you can't get the exact specs the best way is to measure it.