The warm weather here in the Northeast (73degF on Saturday) is helping me with getting it "out" more

Thanks.

 

hey, dont worry about it, valve springs are designed to operate in the elastic range of the spring's metal it wont have any alterations to the spring constant or any other properties unless the spring is pushed into its plastic range (over compressed or tensioned) which as long as you operate within the manufacturers range of compression, (certain springs only good to .500 lift others .650......) you have nothing to worry about the metal will return to its original shape.

Think of those old slinky things, they'd last forever when only stretched the designed length but over stretch a portion and the thing has a deformation for all eternity in it, same concept, the point at which the slinky deforms is when it enters its plastic range, but in the elastic range the metal's properties are maintained and do not alter

 

that was a nice technical explation.. nice

 

ty, I'm a engineering student, guess i learned something in class

 

I'm not sure you can define the problem by looking simply at a single tensile property like the elastic limit. You also have to consider "creep". Creep occurs when stress is held at a high level for an extended length of time (e.g. - valve spring fully compressed). Creep is essentially a deformation of the material while still operating within the elastic range. While creep in metals is generally very low at low temperatures, it can still occur. It typically occurs in three stages, including a fairly high "primary" rate. That's the basis for asking the question.... is "creep" an issue with auto valve springs? I've seen references that say it is not a problem, but also at least one paper involving the design of a test apparatus to measure creep in valve springs.

 

in a high lift cam... maybe in a stock or mild cam... nah, the other thing is the cam is most likely going to stop in a position with the least springs compressed, just simple physics and timing chain slack,

creep is a concern but in reality i wouldnt even think about it when talking about storage over months, valve springs are made out of a spring steel/(chromoly/ w/e kind you buy) which essentially is designed by chem engineers to operate in high stress and temperature conditions and to last decades, maybe in an old motor that's going to sit for a period of many years, but even then i'd be more concerned about moisture rusting my cyl walls, my rings springing out into the cyl walls, stale gas, oil stagnant.

yea when you put normal steel under a stress test it will have creep issues under high pressure, but springs as long as you operate in mnfr spec and dont overheat them i wouldnt think about em, the other thing is you're talking about the springs sitting at much cooler temp than they're meant for so deformation is going to be that much less likely

EDIT: most ppl in classics, recommend turning it over to move the oil and pistons every month or two (the older the more often) to avoid damage to the motor, and gas varnishing the carb, this would be a more apt question i believe, how long to let it sit before gas varnishes and pistons dig into the cyl calls

 

although i would like to read that paper that you're talking about

 

I wasn't really thinking of a high spring pressure on a solid roller, 0.590 lift as "stock".

It only takes one.

So.... you're saying that my valve springs are going to last "decades"?

 

Yes decades....you didn't know?

What rockers do you have? I would just take them off or loosen them