Are new valve locks necessary

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67/6barracuda

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Guys,
I broke my cam in with the stock springs and now i think its time to install my Comp 901's. Any advice would be great. My method is to borrow the valve spring puller and compression tester from oreillys, add air to the cylinder. I will also bring the cylinder I am working on to TDC in case the valve falls. I already have the springs. I was looking at buying the right retainers and valve seals. Do you guys think its necessary to buy new valve locks. The stock ones are 7 degrees and that's what the comp 604-16 calls for. Are locks a typical wear item. I don't want to buy them if not necessary. Thanks
 
If they are Comp locks replace them immediately I'll be posting pics here soon of what they're supposedly hardened locks look like after pulling them on my heads . let's just say I was seconds away from eating a valve .
 
They may show some wear but your stock ones should be fine. Dbl chk the new top plates and locks work together.
 
Ill probably just buy the retainers and valve seals then for now. From the sound of it the Comp locks may not be that great thanks guys.
 
..........if ur upping the spring pressure I sure would cause if 1 fails it would be a catastropic.........kim..........
 
So.......are you going to use 40 plus year old valve locks? I would not.
 
I wasn't sure if I should use them. But if they been doing the job for 40yrs who knows maybe there good for another 40yrs. I don't have a lot of experience with changing out springs or valve locks in this case its my first time. I guess most people would just buy all new locks for insurance sake.
 
I have reused them on stock rebuilds but if you are going to hot rod it, new keepers are cheap insurance.
 
The issue is, when you upgrade valve springs, you need to upgrade locks. I am not aware of any trouble with Comp locks. Lunati and several others also offer them as well.
 
If you bring the piston to TDC , once you put the air to it wouldnt it push it down to BDC ? You can do it without using air so the valve wont drop in case of air failure. Take cylinder your working on to BDC and insert a small piece of rope about 4or5 feet long into the spark plug hole, leaving some sticking out of the hole. Slowly bring piston up to TDC until it stops, the rope will hold the valves up, change the springs, move piston back to BDC so you can get the rope out and then on to the next one.
 
The Comp 901s are not a big deal really. I use the stock retainers and locks on mine and have used them in the past with larger stuff. If you plan on doing some racing - you should get better ones. Just make sure they are right for each other in terms of angles. I havent ever had a failure with Comp product.
 
Heres a Comp lock from my head note the missing ridge that is worn down to a millimetre

magnify_2016-08-21_07-36-00.jpg
 
Almost all of my locks look like this , I had a chat with Brian at IMM and he told me he has abandoned the Comp locks and retainers altogether in favor of having a third party make them for him after too many problems with the Comp stuff . I am waiting to recieve a new set of comp springs and these third party locks and retainers right now. I was at Inertias place yesterday and he has just recently discovered several cracked Comp retainers on a set of heads he was doing so if you guys want to keep trusting their products have at it but I'm not ruining pistons and a set of heads , this was too close to a failure already.
 
Almost all of my locks look like this , I had a chat with Brian at IMM and he told me he has abandoned the Comp locks and retainers altogether in favor of having a third party make them for him after too many problems with the Comp stuff . I am waiting to recieve a new set of comp springs and these third party locks and retainers right now. I was at Inertias place yesterday and he has just recently discovered several cracked Comp retainers on a set of heads he was doing so if you guys want to keep trusting their products have at it but I'm not ruining pistons and a set of heads , this was too close to a failure already.

Now THERE is some motivation to get new ones. :D
 
Yeah those my friend are gone. I would send that pic to comp and tell them to step their game up. I wonder if the newer metal is inferior to the old stuff.
 
Yeah those my friend are gone. I would send that pic to comp and tell them to step their game up. I wonder if the newer metal is inferior to the old stuff.
I suspect they have subbed the manufacturing out to a jobber maybe even somewhere in China but no matter how much they claim to be induction hardened they clearly are not hard enough to survive , I am running single beehive springs as well so we`re not looking at high lift triple spring pressures here either .
 
Agreed Chris, that was a close call. I had heads off last year with valves off.All looked ok then??
Glad ya caught it
 
Interesting. What valves are you running? We're talking about stock valves unless im mistaken. You've got a single groove lock there. Seems strange the ridge would wear away. If they were soft id expect it to already have pulled through, lighter pressures or not.
 
Interesting. What valves are you running? We're talking about stock valves unless im mistaken. You've got a single groove lock there. Seems strange the ridge would wear away. If they were soft id expect it to already have pulled through, lighter pressures or not.

Looks like a double to me with one almost completely gone.
 
No they are a single lock with the lash cap groove showing above the worn out ridge , stainless ferrea valves in RHS heads .look at the edges of the half shell and you can see there is only a millimetre of material left of what was about a 1/8th" ridge the rest has sheared of flush with the lock id .
 
No they are a single lock with the lash cap groove showing above the worn out ridge , stainless ferrea valves in RHS heads .look at the edges of the half shell and you can see there is only a millimetre of material left of what was about a 1/8th" ridge the rest has sheared of flush with the lock id .

Ah, thought one ridge was sheared and the other part way gone.
 
I say "interesting" because there should be zero movement between the groove on the valve, and the actual ridge of the lock. No rotation, no bouncing, nothing. The springs pressure the retainer, the retainer pushes the locks into the grooves, and everything gets wedges together. What that looks like to me is the angles of the locks are wrong (might be a defect), and/or the grooves are a problem, and/or you have harmonics in the valvetrain that's beating parts. Regardless, I would say the locks are potentially part of the problem, but more the symptom of another issue. Just my $.02.
 
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