Cut 50% weight from valve, spring & retainer. 

I've never considered valve spring weight to be part of the valvetrain weight, I always thought you wanted lighter valves lighter rockers lighter keepers lighter retainers because those are all moving parts but I always considered the spring to be kind of stationery (even though it doesn't move) because it's not putting any additional weight on the top of the valve only open and seated pressure! I'm still trying to wrap my head around of how the weight of the valve spring itself makes a difference but it does totally makes sense now! I just never thought of valve spring weight before! DV is the master for a reason!

Absolute gold, thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge.....long live gasoline engines!

I like the Lotus motto "simplify and add lightness" and that's what your doing.

You're Awesome DV thank you. 😎👍 Hope to meet you someday 🙏

I really enjoy listening to all the things you’ve learned over your career. You are very professional. I’d love to attend your school someday.

Charlie is really working hard on the the heads and intakes on this project ! I think it's going to be exciting.

I started using stock 5.3 LS springs with a Comp Cam retainer on SBC’s about ten years ago. They work well on mild street builds and they allow you to run more lift on the vortec head without cutting down the valve guide. Pretty sure I was paying less than $3.00 per spring.

I’m kinda shocked the LS platform can help out with this project. Pretty neat way to think outside the box. 👏

This is quintessential hot-rodding. I love it! 👍

Always great content David Thanks

I enjoy your dedicated work David

Great program , thank you D.V.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Your description of the pressure drop across the intake pathway was gold.

This is a really neat project.

So much info was just given out. You amaze me. You have decades of cutting edge design experience. Following this series and loving it.

Great video. I just love the concept of the beehive and conical springs. Seems like a no brainer given the proper budget.

Please keep sharing your vast knowledge

Wow, I learned a lot in a very short time, well done. Subscribed. What a great way to honor Jacque and support a great cause. She is beaming standing over that engine, and I'm sure beaming looking down on this one.

Great content as usual!

Great stuff. Hello from Germany. I have been reading your books for years, Jep. Before the internet. I shared this video on my personal page, and will also share it on a few other groups on Facebook. All the best, Jonathan.

Very intrersting thank you. A man by the name of Mal Stuart (A great rally driver of Sunbeams and Avengers RIP) once gave me a tip for the cam follower bucket in a Hillman Avenger pushrod engine, to lighten it by cutting approx 10mm from the top of the bucket and also drilling another hole on the side near the base to let the oil run out quicker, hence being lighter.

David your a badass 😎

Super informative. Really appreciate

Just started binge watching this and damn near wet my noodle when u said 8k rpm Jesus! , im also currently building a magnum 318, just started porting the heads and will be doing all of the rotating assembly mods u mentioned as well as looking for some behive springs 8k rpm here i come!!!

I wish that I had known about you 30 years ago!

Good info on the behives.

Love the content, I am trying to shed mass on my 3800 & sbf 8.2 valve train. My titanium LS retainers are 5.5 grams ,tool steel modified 8.0 grams

Remember to use deep spring cups. The oil that they will hold, will save premature spring failure.

I love these hidden jems

I looove this channel 🔥

It would be really cool to see this applied to a more modern 4 cylinder engine like a K20/K24. If you could keep most of the strength and reduce the weight of the rotating and valve components you could use a bigger cam and rev out with slightly lower cylinder pressures. Unopened they can make 400-600hp with boost so moving that way up the rev range would make a lot of juice.

Thank you sir. Great info.

yes more knowledge from DV!

Great vidja guys 🤙🏼

Thanks David.

‘Amateur’ is french with the Latin root ‘Amar’ which means to love. Amateurs do something for the love of doing it. Amateurs are, in a sense, the purest class.

Thanks David

I have heard of titanium retainers having a very limited lifespan due to fretting on the steel spring, but it may be a function of how well fitted the retainer is to the spring. I have seen titanium retainers last many thousands of miles, but also were a very tight fit to the spring. I have rejected valvespring kits for projects if the titanium retainer has any looseness when fitted to the spring. Something to consider when mixing/matching valvetrain components.

I have double valve springs that have no float at 8krpm (concentric). The damper engineering is very interesting and the material.

I installed a set of those bee-hive springs in my Corvair engine and they were possibly the best money I spent on engine parts, as they are lighter and achieve higher RPMs than the stock springs, by far - I turn 8K RPMs w/ hydraulic lifters and zero float.

Excellent video detailing pros and cons of different springs, retainers, manufacturers and applications! Waiting to see your research on pricing the beehives for the Mopar application. The other conical applications were obviously a better deal price and value wise, and I wonder if the beehives are necessary to help reach the goal if mission impossible- look forward to the outcome!

Built a 6g72 that weighs about 25 lbs lighter than oem. aluminum flywheel,+1mm Hollow stem valves with dished faces., billet pistons and forged rods that about 1/4lbs lighter than oem per rod, Cam gears that weighed about 1.5lbs less than stock, And here this guy is telling me I couldve dropped even more. Definintly keeping this info in mind incase I build another one.

Amateurs or novices or hobbiests. Most people don't spend their lives making a good living and professional automotive racing and engineering. Even the best professionals are always learning.

Scavenging is so important to ade the process.

Hey, David there are a bunch of Mercedes that used a behive valve spring. There might be some cross over if you want to make a custom retainer. I would love for you to start making a diesel series. I have a project that is going to start happening soon with a Mercedes OM606. Think 6BT but 3.0L, twice the valves, and half the weight. It's a pretty cool engine. Once I'm done with that I will probably move into a project for something common rail.

I was at a 13 or 17 gram reduction on the rods. With the ARP nuts, I would change my guess to 28 grams off the rods.

great. thanks.

As a retired physicist who has taught these principles to students of physical science and engineering in my college physics courses, I appreciate you making the excellent point about how the spring's mass affects the resonant frequency of a mass-spring oscillator. It can be shown, through energy methods, that a real mass-spring oscillator with distributed spring mass can be converted to an equivalent oscillator with zero spring mass and having all the mass in the load if you replace the load mass with an effective mass equal to the sum of the load mass plus ⅓ of the spring mass. After doing the derivation of the theory in class I would do an experimental demonstration before the class to verify by comparing the theoretical computed resonant frequency with the actual measured frequency. The same energy method can be used to compute the theoretical resonant frequency of any of the reciprocating components in the valvetrain and to combine them all to compute the overall resonant frequency of the valvetrain.

I will do it and everything your doing to my 318. All original 1982 chrysler new yorker. 26,000 miles.

Did put 7008 isky outer with stock inner spring to be gentle at about 130 at seat whith a healty 300+ open(from memory). Often, people put outer and inner springs together :this give 180 seat. Way too much. (Porsche 2.5 inline) thanks for sharing your science! 500+ lift capacity . What cannot be taken by the cam tower lobewise without big changes...

I'm really enjoying this. If you could put up the links for these parts, we could help support the program with our purchases. I'd especially like to know what beehive springs and retainers will work without machining. Also, are the stem diameters and height the same on the LS valves?

I have personally sanded valves, and balanced the valvetrain. So valve float occurs close to the same rpm across the engine.

For what’s it worth, if y’all spin a valve in a lathe, and use a drill with a rosin roll or flap wheel, on the underside of the head, you can get a decent swirl polished finish and it does a good job of cleaning up roughness on stock valves.

Groovy

A lot of heavy road car parts have race car parts inside them. You just have to dig them out.

Would you recommend this lightening work for a Ford Kent engine? I've got your book tuning old-school ford escort, Cortina, Capris. Do you still stand by the information in that book? Anything you would have said different today?

Dave has forgotten more than most people know.

What do you think about cryo and REM treatment?

I have lots of LS beehive valve springs and I agree with the benefits. I have regularly seen them used on SBC and have heard you talk about them on Big Block Chevy too. I want to do that for a BBC project. DV or anyone else have any specific info on BBC Beehive spring conversion?

What kind of rpm would you expect with a beehive spring and 40-50lb boost on it? I understand NA but would you still use it with big boost? I wouldn't think their would be enough seat/open pressure. I haven't tried yet to know. I've used them in heaps of NA stuff.

Do they make a beehive spring retainer for 10* locks?

I've been wanting to see this topic coverd on valve train. Would using lighter, valves , springs and retaines affect the spring lift rating ?

7:53 when you weighed the valve you put them in different positions which will effect the gram read out ?

How do you feel about reversed wound flat wire dampers?

👍💪

6:43 I've been wondering if you would create controlled vacuum leaks as a way to get more air into the engine. Now after hearing you talk about increasing the vacuum signal it looks like my thoughts may have been barking up the wrong tree.

when you give to charity it comes back many fold!

At 4:56, how do you do the anti-reversion mod? Please explain how it minimizes reversion?

Have You Found Out Any More Info . on the New Springs You Were telling Us About

Howard springs when up to 62$ when I looked on Summit today. 16$ raised in 8 months. 35% increase. When is it gonna stop to profit on our back from auto parts industries we count on?

What about polishing the sides of the big end of the rods where they meet each other, and the crank? There can be friction there and the oil will probably keep them apart, but seems to me being extra smooth, will eliminate any chances of friction! Would it be a good idea?

Whats the trade off of thinning the face of the valves. You said your anti reversion groove makes it more flexible as it is.

This is a great video. I love this kind of content. I have a question: I know that reducing valvetrain weight makes it easier for the engine to turn higher rpms, reduces wear on the components, and generally makes it easier for the motor to rev quickly, but sometimes I hear guys say it also makes the engine produce better 'under the curve' power. Is this true, or is that more related to camshaft choice and airflow? Thanks, David. Valvetrains are one of my favorite systems.

What if you do that 50 times? Can you make it weightless?

Any news on the beehive spring you were looking into?

Maybe i missed it, but with the LS spring being so much larger, are the heads going to be cut to match or are the valves going to be machined down and re-cut?

Hello. Can you talk about the shape of the valves. I mean the angles of tulip and radius between steam and head.

WHy don't you put one of those helmholtz resonators inside the intake manifold to essentially suck more air through the carb like the NASCAR restrictor plate engines do

I wish I had the money to have Mr. Visard build me an engine.

I have a bit of disagreement regarding the carb size, you are going to reach mach at the venturi which will stall airflow automatically and nothingt you do down wind will stop that. There is a literal limit to airflow in a N/A motor and no amount of work on the heads can overcome that. The only you get from lightening valve train mass is how fast the motor will accelerate and reducing parasitic losses. Ring tension and improving the efficiency of the oil pump (a huge parasitic drag on the motor) are the best places to free up HP on a restricted inlet motor.

After reducing weight on the rods, you now are force to blueprint the crank right?

top

Please, *_For The Love Of God_* use both an ARP rod nut *and* bolt... 🙂 I've seen *way* too many of the stock ones stretch and even strip the threads upon attempted re-installation...

Chrysler 3.3 / 3.8 v6 engines had nice little beehive springs.

is there a place to obtain all of your videos as a package? thanks

175 gram total weight reduction of the connecting rod

Can you put holes in the center of the I beam?

What about Chromoly ones?

Looks like the PAC 1218 beehives are under 40 bucks and rated for .600" lift. Am I missing something here?

Intake valve reduction: 28 grams is one OUNCE....😲

GM OE springs are VERY inexpensive.

486g for the rod

Hello DV, how can I get the a copy of your IOP program that you mention in your Building Horsepower book?

I meant 70 grams total

How bout you center that ls valve on the scale ⚖️

Those Howards springs are only good for .500" lift, according to Summit. Kinda dinky cam, no? At 1.25" outside diameter, isn't some kind of cup necessary?

38%

Okay, I consider myself an amateur mechanic meaning I don't make a living by being a mechanic. I have a question. When you say $130 except for the a set of springs, does that mean a set of two per cylinder or does that mean asset for the whole engine eight cylinders. Sorry for the dumb question like I said I'm not a professional mechanic

Excuse me sir, Mr Vizard, You weigh The LS valve off center from the scale where it is not an accurate reading. And I know you know better. What does the LS valve really weigh?

well you just put the price up on the springs from summit cheers🤔