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Valve Spring options?

J

JoeM

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
576
Location
St Paul, Minnesota
Anything other than stock out there?
Since i don't feel like being nice to my motor's i figure i might as well well build this one to handle my 6k rpm driving :)
 
:shrug:

I spend ALOT of time in the 6000-6800 rpm range :laugh: . I Like the sound of my Car :shrug: .


I will know for sure what happened later this week/next week when i tear into it. I either:
A) Floated Valves
B) Blew a Head Gasket
C) Both + more
 
dude i'm WOT all the time on my car. the valvesprings are fine. ST220s are a minor upgrade and probably not worth the money unless your going over 7200 rpm. your problem probably lies in the fact that your straight 3L swap was never cracked open and it could have had bad timing components.
 
TRicker said:
dude i'm WOT all the time on my car. the valvesprings are fine. ST220s are a minor upgrade and probably not worth the money unless your going over 7200 rpm. your problem probably lies in the fact that your straight 3L swap was never cracked open and it could have had bad timing components.
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If the engine is already apart, I think a set of ST220 valve springs is only about $75-$100. Definitely not worth upgrading if the engine is still in the car.
 
As I've said many times to clarify... the ST220 springs are not unique to the ST220. They came about during the development of the ST220 engine and were used across the board on all 2.5L and 3.0L when the ST220 3.0L went into production which was for the 2002 model year. It is likely that most 2002 and all 3.0L engines built after 2003 will already have the improved springs.
 
procyon said:
As I've said many times to clarify... the ST220 springs are not unique to the ST220. They came about during the development of the ST220 engine and were used across the board on all 2.5L and 3.0L when the ST220 3.0L went into production which was for the 2002 model year. It is likely that most 2002 and all 3.0L engines built after 2003 will already have the improved springs.
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i remember reading about this when i built my motor. a few members told me that there is not a difference. i believe one of them was even kinger who i bought my heads from
 
I checked with the manufacturer of the springs for the duratec (made by a company called mubea), there is no difference for the ST220 springs, they are they same as all the other 3L's from at least '02 and up. I'm not sure the exact time when they switched over, but either way, there is not a major difference in spring rate with the older springs anyway. Basically, if you aren't using high mileage springs, you are as good as you can be without having custom springs made.
 
Thank you for the research.

In the past, the main reason for stiffer springs was hotter cams. Cams with more lift and longer duration. The lift was the biggest reason. The stiffer springs were needed to make the valve train stay in contact with the more radical movement. This was especially true with overhead valve designs where there is a lot of mass and distance between the cam and the valve. With overhead valves, the valve train mass and distance just isn't there. Perhaps the biggest difference though is that there is no longer as much need for more radical cams. Multi valves serve much of the same purpose, without sacrificing low end torque. Most importantly, no one in the aftermarket spends time and money today to develop equipment when they perceive there is not enough market for a return on investment.
 
A few people have set the rev limiter to 7500 with no problem.

Like I said before, unless you install more radical cams, cams with steeper ramps, you have no need for stiffer springs. Nor do you want them if you don't need them, as you will have a greater cam wear.
 
Nobody has a sure answer because nobody has really had any kind of valvetrain failure.

People have reported valve float at around 7500 I think. I'm not sure much more than that will do you any good... you'd have to dyno test it.

I had my rev limiter set to 8000rpm and i loved it... nothing better sounding that a duratec at 8 thousand rpm.
 
Barge said:
Nobody has a sure answer because nobody has really had any kind of valvetrain failure.

People have reported valve float at around 7500 I think. I'm not sure much more than that will do you any good... you'd have to dyno test it.

I had my rev limiter set to 8000rpm and i loved it... nothing better sounding that a duratec at 8 thousand rpm.
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Did you experience valve float at 8K? I doubt if you did. I don't think you will experience valve float at any usable rpm with factory cams.

Anyone that has had their rev limiter moved up to 7500 RPM or higher is welcome to chime in here.
 
Big Jim said:
Anyone that has had their rev limiter moved up to 7500 RPM or higher is welcome to chime in here.
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I've got them set at 7500 on both of my cars. Even still I am shifting by around 72-7300 RPM because thats when the power is starting to fall off. The only logical reason I'd see revving an engine without radical cams that high is to finish without shifting (topping out the gear right at the finish)

Oh and I've got oem valve springs on both engines. The contour has 3L PnP with SVT cams and the Cougar has the stock SVT valves with SVT cams.
 
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