• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Need advise on new Exhaust Valves

Share this page

M

MrAlex

Member
Country flag
Offline
I am in the process of having my TR4 head renewed. Going with hardened seats on both Intake and Exhaust. Magnesium/Bronze guides. Intake valves all look standard as are available , no dilema there. I am having a little trouble finding information on the differences of Stellite faced vs 214N Stainess for the exhaust valves. Other than the Stellite faced seem to cost more, does anyone know the pros / cons of the two? The car will be used for general driving, not racing. Also, any adise on adding valve stem seals (o-rings?) Unless someone has a good argument for them I am going to go as designed without any. thanks..
 
Thanks Tomster.. I started reading that thread but stopped on page 2 when it started getting off track. I see then later on that my questions are all answered..
 
Hello Mr. Alex,

there is no need to go for hardened inlet seats, unless the existing seats are badly recessed.
I personally wouldn't bother with seals either.

Alec
 
piman said:
there is no need to go for hardened inlet seats,
Click to expand...
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif In fact, I've been told that installing both inlet and exhaust seat inserts on a TRactor motor head is a Bad Thing, since they are so close together that there is no head material left between the two seats. This makes them both more apt to fall out in operation.

Since the intake valve face & seat are not exposed to the burning gases, they do not need to be hardened to prevent VSR. Also no need for Stellite facing on the valve. TR intakes last virtually forever anyway, in my experience.

There are oversize valves available to try to salvage heads with pitted intake seats. If that isn't enough, then it's time for a different head.

I also agree about the seals, unless you've been messing with the original flow of oil over the head. One band-aid leads to another; and the result is likely to be less reliable than the original configuration.

Somewhere I've got a busted piston out of a TR3 motor, caused by an aftermarket seal failing in conjunction with an external oil feed.
 
My car has stainless valves, oversized, with manganese bronze,(not magnesium!) guides. Has been fine for several years.
While you have the head off dremel out some of the material shrouding the intake valve as this will improve flow.
Simon.
 
When my engine was rebuilt this spring the head was torn down and the exhaust valve seats were all pitted. Only two thousand miles earlier I had the valves ground as a measure to get some time to drive until I had time to do the entire engine. I discussed this with some very experienced Triumph engine people and was told that the original seats are hardened in the heads but that the hardening is not very deep and can easily be ground through. It was highly recommended that the exhaust seats be replaced.

I was also advised not to replace the intake seats and did not.

Ferrari engines are made with valve seat inserts so I don't think they are all bad.
 
With all the crappy engine stuff coming from the far east it sure would be nice to know who makes the valves...I'd sooner pay double and know I got a good product rather than find out the valves are junk ...
 
Hello Tom,

"Ferrari engines are made with valve seat inserts so I don't think they are all bad."

That may be due to the head material being aluminium.

Alec
 
On the other valve thread Ron McP suggested I contact Ken Gillanders for valves. I hadn't thought of that but indeed that would be the safe choice.
 
I had new exhaust seats and SS valves installed when I had mine done this fall. The ones on the head were pitted. The head was CC'd and shaved to 9.0 compression and new guides were installed. It's just two cylinders more than yours.
 
Back
Top