71 Dart get 408/ Trick Flow Heads....

70aarcuda said

Had an issue this morning while shimming the valve springs...on the last exhaust valve as the spring was slowly released back up...a valve lock snapped....never in my life have seen this before....these are 7 degree locks....I used a set of comp cams 7 degree lock to replace both of them on that retainer...

Not sure if it is something i did or what?.......

View attachment 1715496508

View attachment 1715496509

Click to expand...

Yep. It happens. They are so damn hard if you get the retainer cocked or the lock slides down just a skosh it will fracture the lock.

Even more common is valve train harmonics breaking locks while it’s running. You can break the lock if the you float the valves. I’ve never seen one let loose after it’s fractured, but I’ve taken apart many of them that are fractured.