[phil400]

What could cause a groove wearing into the valve stem face?

[Blued and Painted]

? stem and face. Please re-phrase the question.

[phil400]

Sorry, the valve tip, where the rocker arm contacts the valve, its looks as if the roller is wearing a groove into it.

[cnc]

does the roller roll...perhaps it seized/ing and galling the tip

[screamingchief]

New valves,or valves with a valve job or two/three on them?

If the later,some machinists machine the tips of the valves when doing a valve job to account for what gets taken off the seats as a means of trying to get the tip heights even when the heads are assembled,and understand that the tips are only hardened so deep,so occasionally from time to time if the second/third guy doing a valve job is'nt paying close attention,it's possible that the hardened portion has been all machined off the tips.

No hardened tip = grooves worn in tips.

Only crutch "fix" other than new valves would be lash caps and keepers grooved to clear them,and even that sorta hardware can be hit-or-miss in terms of whether it'll work or not.

HTH

Bret P.

[phil400]

I'll check that next time Im the garage, I didnt see any blueish colour that is normally associated with galling.

[phil400]

The valves have had a valve job, they are stock original valves.

[phil400]

Ok, checked this morning, roller does roll, the groove isn't too deep, I pulled another rocker and the groove wasn't as bad, also,upon second look the groove is closer to the edge of the tip not centered where the roller looks to be making contact and doesn't run across the entire tip, could it be that it's not the roller causing it?

Is there any danger of dropping a valve or grenading the engine? Had planned to pull it next winter for a total rebuild, wasn't expecting this 2 weeks before I pull it out of winter storage.

[Mr. P-Body]

Is it possible it's "pits" and not grooves? Corrosion does cause this. If it isn't where the rocker contacts the valve, it's not "wear". Am I reading that correctly?

Jim

[phil400]

Mr P-Body, yeah you read it the way I meant, it doesn't look like pits though, and it's not a groove, like just the little spot was just shaved or ground off.

It's right on the edge of the valve tip, nowhere near where the roller tip makes contact.

I went ahead and pulled all the rockers, only 2 valves tips had this mark, #3 intake, and #1 exhaust, however the the mark on #1 was barley there, it is possible that these marks have been there awhile and I never noticed it?

I did however find what some have reported with the comp roller tips about the bluish galling, wear, and a lot of what looked like "cooked" oil where the ball sits, just for now I went ahead and re-installed the stock rockers using the BBC studs and adjusted the lash.

what do you think?

[Cliff R]

I've seen a LOT of the Comp roller tip rockers get hot enough to turn the bodies blue. This comes from a poor fit between the rocker balls and rocker bodies, and using grooved balls in them which reduces contact area.

Since the poor fit creates heat and grinds thing up some, it also puts metal into the assembly till they wear in. For this reason I don't like or use them.

The grooved rocker balls can be replaced with solid ones, then hand lapped into the bodies for a better fit, but after all the work you still don't have a full roller rocker, which can be had for a few dollars more per set than the roller tipped ones.....Cliff

[54nomore]

Phil, from the way you're describing the valve tips I'm betting that it's just where the machinist bumped into the stone a little heavy while "tipping" the valves. It's not pretty, but it also shouldn't hurt anything. I was an engine machinist for 20 years, and that is something that just happens occasionally.

Ron.

[gtofreek]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

I've seen a LOT of the Comp roller tip rockers get hot enough to turn the bodies blue. This comes from a poor fit between the rocker balls and rocker bodies, and using grooved balls in them which reduces contact area.

Since the poor fit creates heat and grinds thing up some, it also puts metal into the assembly till they wear in. For this reason I don't like or use them.

The grooved rocker balls can be replaced with solid ones, then hand lapped into the bodies for a better fit, but after all the work you still don't have a full roller rocker, which can be had for a few dollars more per set than the roller tipped ones.....Cliff

What Cliff said. I won't buy those rockers for any customer. For 1, all most all the friction is in the ball pivot, not at the valve tip. I see those things turn blue all the time, especially on circle track engines. I say if you're going to convert to some sort of roller rocker, get full roller, so you actually gain something.

[phil400]

Ok, well thats good news,Im gonna clean up the roller tips and try and sell them.

I put the stock rockers back on, but who makes a quality stamp steel rocker? Should I want to replace thestockers.

Thanks.