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revised keeper/retainer design on 04-06 heads

13K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  sirtifiedacc  
#1 ·
Honda/Acura has changed the valve keeper and retainer design, starting sometime in the '04 model year. do not mix and match these parts with the older design retainers & keepers!!! this also means if you have a late '04 to '06 (and 07?) motor/head, you cannot use the newer keepers with aftermarket retainers. you either have to reuse the OEM retainers & keepers as a matched set, or buy a set of the older-style keepers.

the newer setup is identifiable by the distinctive arrow marks on the keepers, as well as (at least on the RSX-S) the light blue-green intake valve spring and orangey-brown exhaust valve spring.

Thanks to Jeremy@InlinePro for pointing this out and saving my ass on a cam install today. and also thanks to kommon_sense for originally posting the ServiceNews article:
http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B060400.PDF
 

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#2 ·
sweet thanks.

so the tsx have the new style retainer design?
 
#5 ·
Regarding aftermarket retainers, I asked from Ron about these new cotters in reference to the IPS group buy deal. This is what I asked:

Hi, I forgot to ask one crucial thing about the retainers. I recall that
there is two different part numbers for the valve cotters nowadays. Which
part number is the correct one to use? I don't want to mess that bit up..


Answer:

We've used both successfully with our retainer, just don't mix and match
keeper/cotter. The newer style has a laser etched mark along the top, like a
stripe. The older style doesn't have this marking.



I'm more than confused about this now :confused: Common sense would dictate that the retainer and the keeper must match from the angle ratio point of view. Could someone care to clarify?

I have group buy TI-retainers, but it seems that I have got these new type keepers. Going to build my engine and head in the near future and would need concrete info on this.


Edit: Could someone also let everybody know what is the part number for new type retainer. Thanks.
 
#6 ·
I've ordered all of the various retainers. The *ONLY* retainer that has the dimples is a retainer that was only available on the '05 tsx. all later model tsx/rsx-s use the new a02 cotter/keeper along with the a01 dished retainer.

So I believe this service bulletin *ONLY* applies to the tsx.
 
#7 ·
I recieved my Z3 head the other day and it had the new style keepers and the old stlye retainers.

The old and new style keepers work with the dished retainers. The new style keepers still retain the SAME angle, just a different ratio of length to width, they just fit further down on the valve stem and thusly deeper into the retainer.

Do NOT mix the retainers as a new and old are not compatible together in the same retainer. Also they do have a slight difference in installed spring height.
 
#8 ·
I installed a set of Brian Crower cams & valvetrain for somebody this past weekend and made the following observations:

- late '04 RSX-S with the dished retainers, single-spring seats and the newer keepers with the telltale silver hash marks.
- the older style keepers (I had some spares) don't fit all that well in these OEM retainers! they need to sit near the top of the opening to even fit at all. the marked keepers sink further down in, and fit more snugly against the inside walls of the retainer.
- the older keepers appear to have a bit more slope/angle on the outside surface and are also a little bit thicker and wider at the top. this was verified by measuring them with a caliper. so yes the dimensions are slightly different.
- the aftermarket retainers are machined more precisely than the OEM ones which leave a little bit of wiggle room between keeper & retainer and between retainer & spring. this is the reason why you must use the older style keepers with aftermarket retainers; the newer keepers just won't fit quite right. we used the 14781-PR7-A01 keepers which have been used on the RSX, S2000 and various other Hondas/Acuras in the past, so they are easily available.

bottom line is it only costs $50 or so to order a set of PR7 keepers -- if you have the marked keepers it's not worth the potential risk to try to reuse them. Besides InlinePro, Brian Crower, BuddyClub, and Supertech have warned not to use them.
 
#9 ·
rsxmachine said:
I installed a set of Brian Crower cams & valvetrain for somebody this past weekend and made the following observations:

- late '04 RSX-S with the dished retainers, single-spring seats and the newer keepers with the telltale silver hash marks.
- the older style keepers (I had some spares) don't fit all that well in these OEM retainers! they need to sit near the top of the opening to even fit at all. the marked keepers sink further down in, and fit more snugly against the inside walls of the retainer.
which keepers were these. The old style a01 keepers have a silver mark on the top and the new style a02 keepers have 2 silver marks on the top. Both work great with the a01 dished retainer.