another bb valve question.

[572b1cuda]

i am having trouble making a decision on this so i need a few opinions. which vales would you choose if the price was the same. stock oem(new) ,clevite, or elgin? are the oems better or are the aftermarkets better? i cant believe after building and racing big b1 motors i am having trouble with a stock rebuild....

[572b1cuda]

any thoughts? rate them 1-3.

[572b1cuda]

where are you psycho? i value your opinion.

[71chally416]

I wouldn't waste my money on steel multi-groove valves when you can buy Stainless single groove valves so cheap. $160 for all 16 at Mancini. And I would never put the stock size valves back in on sunken valve seats if you expect performance to be as good as when the motor was new. If they are 40 YO heads with a valve job or two the valves will be sunk, especially the exhausts.

[Chryco Psycho]

I honestly do not know , I have had very few valve failures & prefer to keep it that way . I have not tested any valves for metalurgy either so your guess is as good as mine .
 I tend to agree that the stainless valves are not expensive if you are replacing them but also understand about budget + I have had a stailess valve fail but under relatively severe conditions

[572b1cuda]

thanks for the input guys, but this is basically a stock build up and wont be raced.  as i said i have put together and raced a few 940+ hp b1s in the recent past so i know my way around a high hp motor,but i wanted some input from you guys who might have had some recent experience with this stuff or heard of any problems. the heads i am doing were done recently and had new seats installed but were left sitting and got a little rusted so i sent them to get blasted and freshened and the machine shop said the valves shouldn't be cut again and i already bought all new locks and retainers for the stock valves so thats whats going back in, and i remember many years ago beating the snot out of a few stock style motors with no problems. anyway i bought the clevites but i also heard from a few people the elgins are pretty nice also. thanks again and i will let you know how i make out.

[71chally416]

I've always thought of the BB Chrysler as being "Under-valved". The BB Chevy (for instance) has 2.19" valves and you can install 2.08" valves in even a 340 head. Even if you don't port the heads to take advantage of the bigger valves they help tremendously with low-lift flo with a good VJ, and that's what a street motor responds to. So if you get another 20HP at low RPM that's a pretty good bargain for just another $40 for the bigger valves at $2 a HP. You also use virgin un-machined iron when you enlarge the seats so there is no need to replace the seats. 

[572b1cuda]

to be honest the big block chrysler is "under headed". a stock bb chrysler head really cant compete with a stock bb chevy head, i hate to say it but its true, even with the 2.14/1.81 valves. maybe a max wedge head (maybe). thats why when i got serious about racing i stepped up to indys then to the real big boy B1,s. but again thats not what i am doing ,i am building a "stock" motor. and you are right i wouldnt replace the seats, they were done already when i got the heads.

[71chally416]

Very true. But some bigger valves and some porting can make a huge difference, unlike a rectangular port BB chevy head that is really too big for a typical street car. They go like hell in high gear, but the first three aren't that great and any car using them better have gearing. It might not be worth the effort or cost with so many alternatives nowadays, but I couldn't put a set of stock heads on a 440 without assaulting them with an air file and putting some bigger valves in.   

[572b1cuda]

yes chally everything you are saying is true, but you must understand i am at a point that i just want a good running car to cruise around with my family and i am not racing anybody or anything. i did that for 20 years and i am done. i started out with an 11to 1 440 with a set of stock steel heads with $3000 worth of work and the last motor i built made 946 on the dyno and i had a 400hp nos sys on top of that, so i dont think an extra 10-15 hp is gonna really do much for me. i just want to cruise............................................................................