Chromoly valve spring retainers

[Pascal]

I bought some chromoly valve spring retainers from CB performance for my wbx but I'm not sure I can use them. They end up sitting about 2mm lower on the valve stem so they will compress the valve spring by about 2mm. I'm thinking this will put extra pressure on the valve seats and lead to premature wear.

Has anyone else used type 1 after market retainers? have you noticed the same thing I did? if not, what brand did you use?

FYI the weight of the vw retainers are about 22.66g, the AMC retainers are about 24.51g, and the CB chromoly ones are about 19.69g. When I say about, it's because I just weight a few of the retainers and took what looked to be about average.

Thanks

[buildabiggerboxer]

I always use the stock german retainers and collets with 150 lb installed/ 300 on the nose v/s without problems, on my 2.5 Okrasa i use stock AMC retainers which appear to be machined from one piece rather than the stamped o/e ones, all i do is touch the collets on the grinder to gap them when installed, no need to waste money on after market stuff.. but berg retainer 281a is a T1 part that has the extra .150" installed height if you have to have them, you can also machine the spring seat 1mm if required. Have you EVER seen a stock retainer fail? even with heavy springs, i never have.

[tencentlife]

The wbx dual springs have only ~100# on seat and ~180# over the nose on a cam with around .340" lobe lift. A 0.060" shim raises these to ~120# and ~200#. My measurements didn't vary between OEM and AMC springs.

[Pascal]

Thanks guys! So i'll end up with some extra spring pressure (about 20psi) that I don't realy need with the stock fuel injection and it's rev limiter. This will increase wear on the cam and lifters with no benefit in performance. I was just trying to lighten up the valvetrain a bit to increase engine efficiency and reduce wear.

Thanks for the AMC/VW spring tension comparison 10C. I was planning on sticking with the new AMC springs instead of my used VW ones, and I'm glad to know they have the same spring tension.

So I'm still trying to get information on other chromoly retainers, but one option for now is to get the GB ones and then shim them to get the stock spring span.

[Pascal]

Here are some pics of the differences. The lighter colored ones are the OE VW retainers. The CB Chromoly ones will compress the spring by an extra 0.059" because, as can be seen in the last picture, it sit's .059" lower on the valve stem. Also the diameter of the CB Performance ones are a bit smaller at the location where it keep the larger valve spring in it's proper location.






So I don't think the CB retainers are a great fit for the WBX.