Valve Guide ?

[TTA850]

I'm wondering what type of valve guides are being used by you guys and has anyone had any problem with bronze guides?

Reason is I had my motor done 2 years ago and the heads were done over with bronze guides and halfway through last season(2002)I had a valve spring break.While in the shop they found the guides worn out and replaced them.

Then I ran the car this past season(2003)and now while changing the valvesprings I notice that all of the intake valve guides are shot and one exhaust guide is shot.

Just wondering if there something I'm doing wrong or if there is some sort of modification I need to do.The motor has TTA style heads with stock rockers running a 214/210 billet roller.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[gasketmaster]

I like the hardened iron guides on street cars.I put 50,000 miles on them in my T-Type.I went on to put the same heads on my GN where they ran around 300 passes in the 10's.Took the heads apart and the guides were still perfect! The heads then went on another GN engine that ran 10's for 4 years :)

They need to have some special care when installed but most machine shops are aware of their special needs.

[1badTTA]

If you are having that many problems with valve guides I would have to guess that there is a problem with the way they were done. Was it the same shop that did them both times?

[TTA850]

gasketmaster, my car is definatly a street car - gets driven to work almost daily during the summer, not to mention to and from the track.Someone else had mentioned to me the same thing that maybe the bronze was too soft for what I do with the car. I'm going to have to mention the hardened iron guides when I bring the heads to the shop tomorrow.

1badTTA, yeah it was the same shop that did them, he also built the motor for me(steel caps,girdle,JE pistons)and everything else has been flawless just the guides seem to keep messing up. Maybe there's something he's missing or not seeing scince they are TTA heads and I doubt he's ever worked on a set before.He did the heads on my friend Ed's Turbo-T(he posts as ULYCYC)and he's had no problems with them that I know of,though I dont know if he's checked either.

Steve