[talonxracer]

I just wasted all day breaking down the head on my A2 and found zero wear on the Ti retainers and drive the snot out of the car EVERYDAY. There is close to 20K miles on the TI retainers and EVS/w K2's.

The rocker-valve clearances were still within spec and very close to what I set them when I installed them!

But am still worried about the Ti retainers failing in the future, hope some other alternatives show up and fast!

 

[talonxracer]

The end of the inner spring was sharp but perfectly flat where it meets the retainer. The very end of the spring had a sharp end where it was machined to a point, so sharp that as it rotated around the retainer it just dug in.

 

[- guest -]

I just wasted all day breaking down the head on my A2 and found zero wear on the Ti retainers and drive the snot out of the car EVERYDAY. There is close to 20K miles on the TI retainers and EVS/w K2's.

The rocker-valve clearances were still within spec and very close to what I set them when I installed them!

But am still worried about the Ti retainers failing in the future, hope some other alternatives show up and fast!

If you want, we can Ti nitride a set of retainers for peace of mind. It's what we apply to our Titanium rods. It essentially doubles or triples the cost of retainers, since costing for this process fluctuates.

-Ron

 

[talonxracer]

Ron sent ya a E-mail about this and my motor build.

 

[JDM96SpecCTR]

bump this.. still no steel retainers on the market, but i think i read that buddy club has aluminum-magnesium retainers out... and also the buddy club retainers are coated

 

[sirtifiedacc]

I dont like to tell people they are wrong because they get the wrong idea of what I am trying to do. But in this case, this is misinformation. Ti retainers can be a problem. The inner spring of the setup can rub on it and the retainer will wear at that point, and then the middle of the retainer will just drop right out of it. Ask B19Coupe from Honda-tech, it happened to him, and they were clearanced no problems. They broke at 25k miles or so. It can also wear at the keeper area.

Its simple metal science. You cannot have 1 metal that is way harder than another metal touching each other like that, the softer metal wears. Titanium is not as hard as Steel, it wears. The domestic industry does not have Ti in their street motors. It makes no sense at all, at all, to run Ti when you can get much stronger steel that weighs almost exact same as the Titanium.

My retainers are Steel, and they weigh under 8 grams each. And they are much stronger and harder than Titanium. Titanium is only popular with the import crowd. If you go talk to a domestic shop, they will tell you all about it. They run steel, and only Ti on full race cars.

Titanium can have problems. It can. Not in every single case, but its proven 100% it can wear and have problems. When your putting a $150 set of retainers in your $10,000 dollar motor, I dont understand why you would save 1 gram for this "possible" problem?

Nobody runs Titanium rods with Chromoly cranks do they? No, they either have inserts, or they are coated with something. Same concept here.

Sorry to jump in on this, no offense to you. This is a problem, just not on a large "panic now" scale. It does take 10's of thousands of miles if its going to wear to happen.

Again, ask B19Coupe from Honda-tech, he has pics. Middle of the retainer where the inner spring was fell right out, ruined his motor. There was a hole in the retainer. And it was a good retainer, name brand company, that probably thousands of people use. Good company. Its not the manufacturers fault, its the material.

Jeff

Hopefully Jeff will look back at this post. But I was curious on your page it looks like you only offer the AMS Ti valvetrain for our K series. Do you offer the Steel ones in this case?

 

[ghettoracer]

Years ago around 2001 or 2002 I was replacing my CTR cams in my stock 10.2:1 CR B16A with JUN3's and when I took off the valve cover I noticed 1 spring retainers was ate up by the valve spring and the valve was being held up only by the inner spring!

My valve train setup was ITR outer + PortFlow inners. The Ti retainer were the early Crower design which was especially thin and light. Strangely though, the rest of the 15 retainers had very little sign of wear! It must've been that one ITR outter was sharper or maybe it had less flat mating surface to the retainer. I was lucky I didn't drop a valve...

Some earlier posters are correct valve springs designed to snap fit with the retainer will reduce wear. TiN coating will also help. Military spec type III Hard anodizing is also an option and the different hardness can be achieved. Testing needs to be done to verify the final hardness.

What are the retainer options looking like in 2010/2011? I was of the loop for a little while in the last ~2.5-3 years but slowly coming back now.

 

[Jas9848]

Way to bring back a 3-year old thread. Good job.

At first I was going to run steel retainers for reliability, but I run aluminum now.

 

[signalpuke]

Way to bring back a 3-year old thread. Good job.

At first I was going to run steel retainers for reliability, but I run aluminum now.

Nothing wrong with bringing it back, keeps the information organized on the forum.

Coming back to Honda Frank?

 

[pulpmelon_r]

So use Ti Springs as well as retainers, problem solved right??

 

[911/RSX-s]

So use Ti Springs as well as retainers, problem solved right??

If money is no object, I suppose so.

 

[talonxracer]

At the machine shop there is a drawer full of worn, beat up worthless Ti retainers from many wannabe, quasi race engines used for DD's.

 

[Deadphishy]

At the machine shop there is a drawer full of worn, beat up worthless Ti retainers from many wannabe, quasi race engines used for DD's.

haha, I think i have about 10k on mine. I had them looked at 5 months ago when the head was getting check for bent valves. They were all still good.

 

[talonxracer]

It wasnt long after I originally posted in this thread back in 06' that the retainers did in fact go bad in my engine,,,LOL

 

[pulpmelon_r]

If money is no object, I suppose so.

Got a quote for some valvesprings from one of our k20a.org vendors and Ti springs weren't too much more.

Seems like the right way to go.

 

[02sik24a2]

I think the coating is the way to go from Ron....

I have the K2's and EVS , TI retainers, blueprint seats, seals, and keepers

coat the Ti retainers Ron..?? Send me a PM on currents cost. It was nice meeting you in richmond, va in the rain about 4 years back

 

[Bboy_Burst]

back from the dead......




I have about 45K miles on my supertech titanium retainers w/ IPS-K2. Springs are 80lb. the car has been a DD since day 1.

- just wondering if anyone else have the same setup and if they experience any problem with the retainers.

 

[SickSilver_ep3]

my bp stage 2 cams what came with springs and TI retainers showed no wear when i pulled them off last week. and i put a good amount of miles on them.

 

[pb16b]

my bp stage 2 cams what came with springs and TI retainers showed no wear when i pulled them off last week. and i put a good amount of miles on them.

damn right! arkansas - illinois round trips along with breaking carol stream sound ordinance laws....

 

[SickSilver_ep3]

damn right! arkansas - illinois round trips along with breaking carol stream sound ordinance laws....

haha culvers had to hate you guys when u had a straight pipe k's on the dyno. my shit was vibrating the entire building.