you need to change the spring seats if the head originally came with a single spring design. The recomended valvetrain consists of a dual spring setup and if you have a single spring seat you need to change it out for the dual spring seat to run the recomended dual spring setup...

 

here's the difference between the dual & single valve spring seats, with the singles you wouldn't have the step to properly seat the inner spring. they sorta work, but the one actually designed to hold an inner spring is flatter

for changing the valve stem seals I bought a toolset on EBay for like $10. it clamps onto the bottom edge of the seal and has a slide-hammer thing to pop it out. use a magnet to lift out the seat and put in the new one. clean off any rubber shavings left on the valve stem then use the separate plastic tool to tap the new seal in on top of the seat. if you're doing this with the head still on the engine you'll want to first pressurize the cylinder with air.

another option to avoid changing the seats & seals is to use TODA single valve springs.

 

here's the difference between the dual & single valve spring seats, with the singles you wouldn't have the step to properly seat the inner spring. they sorta work, but the one actually designed to hold an inner spring is flatter

for changing the valve stem seals I bought a toolset on EBay for like $10. it clamps onto the bottom edge of the seal and has a slide-hammer thing to pop it out. use a magnet to lift out the seat and put in the new one. clean off any rubber shavings left on the valve stem auto body part then use the separate plastic tool to tap the new seal in on top of the seat. if you're doing this with the head still on the engine you'll want to first pressurize the cylinder with air.

another option to avoid changing the seats & seals is to use TODA single valve springs.

There's another difference bro.. Their spelling.. whahahahaha.. Juz kidding bro..

 

anybody have the part #'s for the dual spring seats and the seals?

 

14775-PRB-A00 is the '02-04 RSX dual valve spring seat

12210-PZ1-004 and 12211-PZ1-004 are the valve stem seals, you'll need 8 of each (actually get 10 of each so you'll have spares in case you ding one up when installing)... the ones with the black springs go on the exhaust valves

 

Thank you and Talon for that info...

8620 KME's going in the stock block ITB'd TSX motor soon!

 

Thanks alot for the info guys. I'm going to be running Skunk2 dual VS's with IPS K2's. Appreciate your help!:up:

 

Okay so I just read somethinng on an IPS thread I made on Clubrsx.

spring seats from 03ish. and new valve stem seals. ALSO DONT FORGET. you have to get diff valve cotters if you have 05+. intake seals are diff than exhaust. ones brown i think and ones green. have fun getting the seals off without the right tool. ill help if ur in dfw if you need.

Maybe a noob question but what the hell is a valve cotter?

Basicly besides the spring seats, seals, what all else do I need to do to use the cams on my k20z1? I keep getting bombarded with new information everyday about these cams. I tried calling IPS but no answer. So any help would be awsome. Thanks guys.

 

the valve cotters are also known as keepers, there's a pair of them on each valve that lock the retainers onto the valve stem. newer Hondas/Acuras have different keepers (marked with a little silver hash mark or triangle on top) that are a couple degrees different angle than the older style, and therefore don't fit quite right with aftermarket retainers. so if you're not reusing your stock retainers then you would need to buy the older style keepers that are the correct angle. The part# for those keepers is 14781-PR7-A01, 2 per valve so you would need to buy 32 (plus maybe a couple spares cuz they're easy to lose). search k20a.org for that part# you'll find a couple useful threads.

another option would be to buy the Supertech retainers & keepers that come as a matched set.

this is all assuming you want to use aftermarket dual springs & retainers. I mentioned TODA single springs before, they could be used with your stock valve seats, retainers & keepers if you wanted to keep things real simple. IPS tested them early on with the K2's.

 

Thanks man, so basicly I need the older 02-04 cotters. Appreciate the help!

 

So I was doing some more research about the valve cotters, And read about the the two differences. So If I am doing aftermarket dual springs and retainers ( skunk2) I need to convert back to the pr7 cotters?

 

probably safe to say that almost all aftermarket retainers will work/fit better with the PR7 type cotters. I wouldn't reuse the marked cotters except for keeping them as a matched set with the OEM retainers they came in.

 

the TSX changed cotters too, so look for the little silver triangles or hash marks on them. if they are unmarked then they are the older style and can be reused with aftermarket retainers