Ric Wood - Race Engine Valves and Springs

Valves and springs

The specification of the valve assembly is an essential part of our race engine and our gas flowed cylinder heads. Quite spectacular results can be achieved in this area of engine building. We are meticulous in our choice of valve size and specification and how it is seated in the head. Likewise we realise significant benefits from correctly specifying valve springs and actuators.

On many of our gas flowed cylinder heads we are able to fit larger valves. These give greater flow than the standard valve size. To fit a larger valve requires extremely accurate machining of the cylinder head and the valve seat itself. The more accurate the valve is seated in the head, the greater compression pressure we can maintain.

A major part of our engineering philosophy is accuracy and repeatability.

Realising the benefit of this on our heads we invested in a CNC valve seat cutting machine. This amazing machine gives us total control over the valve seat profile to an accuracy or 3 microns. More importantly it can do it every time. This gives perfect valve seats on every head, every cylinder and every valve. Like the rest of the engine there is no room for compromise when it comes to consistent accuracy.

Check out the video to the right to see our CNC valve seat cutter in action.

When specifying springs we accommodate the possible maximum revs the engine may be using whilst minimising power loss through springs which may be too heavy. This is a careful balance. Too light and we could have valve float, too heavy and we could lose hard won power operating the valves.

Where required we have valves custom made to our specifications. We also use the very best 3rd party suppliers where they reach our standards for quality. Again we stand by our choice of 3rd party suppliers, they must have 100% integrity for engineering excellence.

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