: Hello all, I been searching through the
: "search" and looking at topics
: about oversized valves, The information is
: good but not direct to what I exactly need
: to tell my machinist.
:
: I was leaning toward the buick 3.8 valves. If I
: were to choose the buick valves, what should
: be told to the machinist.The Buick valves
: are 1.71 and the lenth is 4.727 and the /6
: is 4.78 in lenth,which makes the buick
: valves .053 shorter.What needs to be done to
: correct, or would this "drop
: in".Also the exhaust valves are 1.487
: and 4.727 in lenth also, and the exh. on a
: slant six is 4.802, so were looking at .057
: difference on exhaust. Hes a very
: knowledgable guy (over 30 years) and
: understands exactly what im doing and has
: done it before, but im the kind of person
: that I need to make it clear to him, so
: theres no mix up.
:
: Using the chevy valves(1.72 1.50),wouldnt there
: be problems because of the lenth?
:
: Using the ford valves (what are the sizes?)is
: there a problem with the lenth?
:
: I would just like to put the least amount of
: machine work time into the valves, the
: easiest one that works for a oversized
: valved head. I dont want to get creative,
: just get something that works. Thank You

: In general, you can use the Buick valve if you
: are running a low lift cam, use the Ford
: valves if you are using a higher lift cam.
: The Chebby units are cheap to buy but take a
: lot of work to fit into the head and get
: good rocker arm geometry.
: DD

: I used Ford small block valves, Manley, from
: PAW, Part #'s S-1670 I(1.78) and A-1669
: E(1.453). These valves have 11/32"
: stems & are slightly longer than stock
: 6 valves. My machine shop cut the length of
: the new Ford valves (they have plenty of
: material above the lock groove) to match the
: original 6 valve length, and using Comp
: Cam's springs, retainers, and locks we were
: right on for spring height without shims and
: rocker arm contact pattern on the top of the
: stem. Also, the rockers do not come within
: 0.080" of the retainer at full lift
: (0.532" E). Rocker arm contact with the
: stem is directly related to valve length,
: and unlike a stud mount rocker, the only
: good way to change the contact point of the
: rocker to the valve stem is to adjust the
: valve length. We expect to rev this
: combination to 6000-6200 rpm with good
: reliability.

: The question I had about taking off stem length is that it seems you would lose the hardened tips at the end of the stem. It is not that deep. On the Ford valves, can you remove enough to also add a valve cap? or is accelerated wear not an issue?