That "dude" sold me the locaters for use with my .568 lift, and thats why my engine got trashed. He told me I had to use them to put the 918 springs on LT1 heads. Maybe this "dude" learned a lesson after he saw what happened on my engine. My loss

You should call VRE. They have better customer service anyway

 

Spring locators or spring seat. They are all the same.

 

I run an LE2 head/cam combo with LT4 valves and the 918's. This has a touch over .600 lift.

You have to run non-self aligning rockers (meaning guide plates are mandatory) since the setup leaves essentially no valve tip "meat" for the self-aligning rockers to work properly (especially on the intake side).

I'd contact Lloyd Elliot ( www.eportworks.com ) and ask him what he uses for parts.

Here's a pic of the valve setup.

 

It's good that I already have non-self aligning comp cams rockers with guide plate.

Thank's for highlighting that.

Wish all these information are collected in a sticky thread for all wanting to convert to 918 springs on LT1 heads.

 

It would have been nice for me to know all this before I had problems. I even searched, but didnt come up with much at all.

 

Is that becuase you used LT4 valves, or are all the valves the same?

 

Yes, my setup is specific to LT4 valves. You can get other valves in many different lengths so each setup is "parts specific".

Off topic, I do think the LT4 valve setup is a very good choice for the capabilities of the LT1 head (minus track only use). The valves are very lightweight and of sufficient diameter. Price hollow stemmed valves (exhaust partially sodium filled) from a source other than GM. You'll be stymied.

 

Anybody out there running this set up without using the LOCATORS?

 

Was he saying not to use locators at all, or not to use the 918 specific locators and stick with the LT1 stock locators? I don't think it would be wise to not use locators at all.

With stock locators and standard steel 10* locks & retainers, my install heights without shims were anywhere from 1.785 to 1.755. I used shims to get them all between 1.755 and 1.769. (max lift on my setup is .520)

Thomas.

 

Yah, I called again to make sure. the stock heads have no locator just some brass base plate thing. Comp Cam says you should buy thier locators but Combination Motorsports says many guys don't use locators, rather just the stock brass plate. This way they can get more height out of the spring. The CC locators are 0.06" thick. Thats a lot of space taken away if you don't have to. He also says many LS1 engine run the same.
If your doing a serious racer than you should go for the most stability and use the locators , but for a str/strip cruiser I think I won't need them. I'm doing my heads this weekend and I'll write back to say if it all works out like Combination Motorsports says.

 

I have had the 918s w/ titanium retainers on my car for close to 2 years now with no problems, but I have a stock cam with 1.6RRs.

I didn't buy any aftermarket shims/locators. Probably should have checked installed height, but my roommate was working at comp at the time and said all would be ok...he was right. When, I do heads/cam, I'll be going with some double springs though, because I bought a set of ported heads that came with them.

 

Are you using the +.05 locks? That would only give you a loss of .01, which should work just fine. What's your max lift?

 

No, I have the 787 retainers which are 7 degree and there are no +.05 7 degree locks. So unless I have to switch to teh 10 degree so I can use the +.05, I plan on not using them. My max lift is .576. What do you mean by "loss of .01? If you reffer to the .060" thick locators. I would think I loss the full .060"

 

.06-.05=.01 loss

 

That's equal to 1.79" installed hight, with locators and +.050 locks, right?