Are Ti retainers a must??

N/A build discussion
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Are Ti retainers a must??

By Eg6H2D
- Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:24 am #251412 Im looking over cams and springs and retainers for the H2D.

Are titanium reatiners Required like it's a must do or can i Get stock New Retainers with after market Dual Valve Springs. Like supertech..

Reason i ask is Due to the Quicker wear down of the titanium.?

For daily driving is the titanium good? I know it's a project but Do i really want to get new retainers every lets say 20-25k miles?.

What do you guys think.

:?
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By forcefedEG
- Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:57 pm #252486
EG6b20R wrote:Anyone?? :?


I was anxious to see a reply to this as well :?
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By That One Dude
- Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:03 am #252513 Crower makes a steel retainer kit for use with their dual valve springs.

I'm not sure if any of the H-series engines have a dual spring setup from the factory, but it would not be a good idea to use OEM retainers with aftermarket springs in my opinion.

Companies like Supertech, Crower, et al make their retainers to match their springs. Crower's retainers practially snap into place when assembled to the springs.

As far as titanium retainers for daily driver duty, I would stray away from them unless you want to replace them every year to year and a half depening on how you drive (I drive roughly 30,000mi per year, so I'd probably need to replace them in a year or less). The steel retainers will yeild OEM wear characteristics or better depending on the alloy of steel.

The biggest advantage of titanium retainers over steel is weight. As we all know, less weight is better (to an extent of course). The extents in the retainers argument are wear (already covered), and truely how much weight is saved.

For simplicity sake, we'll say Crower's steel retainers weigh about an ounce. Again for simplicity sake, we'll say Crower's titanium retainers weigh half an ounce. Those are by no means the actual weights of the products, I'm just trying to simplify it for the sake of explaination.

Now the cams push down on the rocker arms which ultimately psh down on the springs. If the cam has less weight to push down and the spring has less weight to push back up, the argument is that the spring can be actuated at a faster rate. See: higher RPM. There's probably no telling how much faster you can spin the engine, but my guess is not much faster.

All things considered, I prefer steel retainers for the wear characteristics. I want to tear my head down once to build it, and not worry about something as critical as valve spring retainers.
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By forcefedEG
- Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:25 am #252519 I've seen the steal crower retainers I had thought about running them over the titanium retainers , they do seem like the better Way to go,
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By Eg6H2D
- Sat May 21, 2011 12:54 am #256133 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh i seeeee... yea i generally drive about 10-13k miles a year if that... once done i dont want to remove and replace things yearly on the head. unless necessary. i.e. headgasket, valve drop god forbid...

So ill take a look at what crower offers and recommends when im ready to purchase their cams... =].

once i start winning and making money then i can do the yearly replacement of parts or race seasons per say,.

thanks guys!!

:thumb:
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By lsvbeghatch
- Sat May 21, 2011 1:24 am #256138 i run stock honda keepers unless im going above 400whp not one issue yet
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By That One Dude
- Sat May 21, 2011 4:50 am #256166 Keepers and retainers are two different parts. I'd use stock keepers on stock valves, but I'd use Crower keepers for Crower valves, etc.
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