Does the color of valve springs mean anything?

What color are stock springs?

I have 2 different heads off in the "work space" and they have different color springs.

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I think if you paint them orange they become High Performance........

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

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That's two kinds of funny, right there.....I don't care who you are.!

Roger

Dont you know who I think I am?

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I think it only becomes high performance if you use HEMI ORANGE....

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Well thanks for the replies but...

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Color of the valve spring may or may not mean any thing. It all depends on who made them. When I ran stock eliminator I found most of the stock slant six springs I found in the junk yards were green. I had to use the best of the junk yard springs I could find, because, if you ordered slant six springs from the dealer, you would get 318 springs, which were slightly stiffer, and not legal.
The best way to check tension is with a tester.
http://www.summitracing.com/search/Part ... ing+tester
If you just want to compare two spring to see which is stiffer, put the two springs end to end, and compress them. The one that compresses the most is the weaker spring. Do not fully compress the spring, it will weaken it. This will give you a comparison.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

red for 340 , black 318 , blue slant ...usally hemi orange for sandy's high performance springs LOL

The colors vary between the manufacturers, there is no standard for this. The color may indicate stiffness - or spring rate - by some manufacturers, others may use it as an expression of the maximum allowable deflection or compression, measured as a percentage of the free length of the spring. As Charrlie said, overloading a spring may weaken it, doing it constantly will weaken it. As an example, a green die spring has a max allowable deflection of 40%, while a very stiff yellow spring has 25%. These numbers have nothing to do with valve springs, other than indicate that a very stiff valve spring may also have a limited compression length, and can explain why valve failure can be experienced when using a too stiff spring with very high lift. That is one of the main reasons for using multiple springs with high lift cams. It's a very delicate balance act when approaching the extremes!

Olaf.

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Aspenized

Ok, now that was helpfull.
I have a head with what appear to be black springs and another with bright green. The bright green head was the one off of the engine I got for christmas several years ago, it was rebuilt with what was supposed to be a slightly hotter than stock cam. The one with black springs came out of a 80/81 cordoba/magnum hybrid I bought las fall. I have yet to pull the timing cover off of that engine and see what it has for a cam. I got the engine stand put together, now to get Dan to bring over the engine hoist.

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Jeez, must have been quite sight when that one came dumping down the chimney into the fireplace...

Olaf.

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Aspenized

charlie, when you ran stock eliminator did you also have to use a stock cam? if you didn't,what was the max valve lift you got away with the stock valve springs? ronnie

When I ran, the requirement was "stock lift and duration", Timing events could be changed, as could the lift rate, and the lash. My cam was a Lunati, don't remember the timing events, but ran at a lash of .005 "good and hot". Also used the best "ratio" rocker arms, recovered from the junk yard. They did vary quite a bit.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

<a href="http://s773.photobucket.com/albums/yy15/1969ron/?action=view&current=springsmoparmarch2011003.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy15/1969ron/springsmoparmarch2011003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

i have the stock slant green spring 1739534, the replacement unpainted slant spring P4286813,the red 340 spring P4120249,and the big block tall red 2658204 for the long valves in a slant for testing. the 813"s coil bind first at 1.15-1.18,then the 249's 1.07-1.10 and the stock 534's last 1.05-1.09. it looks like you could almost run a cam with .480 lift and pass street stock inspection. has anyone tried that setup?