Hi all, Everybody say 'Hi'... Anyway I need to source 35mm exhaust valves for my MK2 PB head. Just read in the Golf+ that TSR is out of business so where can I source these for reasonable coin? I'm really itchy to get my hands on a set as the heads already been flowed, ready to be skimmed and have new guides fitted an seats cut etc. PLEASE HELP!
yer c and r do them i got a quote for them a few weeks back their are not cheap 94 inc vat for x4 valves then 70 inc vat for the seats
Do you actually require new seats? I would have thought the existing seats would have been large enough to re-cut?
The seats weren't big enough when I did the same job on a Mk2. If you've got the head off, then measure across them, but it's likely you'll need new ones. When I got mine done, Blydenstein's machine shop sourced the valve seats - Ivor Searle in Soham, Cambs. At those prices, it would be worth seeing if they can supply them cheaper.
Totally 25 a valves and 17 odd a seat- daylight robbery in my opinion. the head is for a good mate of mine and more a favour than anything else but I'm not going to him wi a 170 bill for 4 valves n seats... I'll slap maself at those prices... Baby powder out... So what your saying is the head will need the existing seats removed and then machined for larger seats? Time to speak to my friendly local engine builder dude I think.
I think my valves were about 17 + VAT from TSR....they weren't exactly known for being cheap. Ring round a few VW specialists and see what they can do. I'm sure Phil W's offering top quality kit for that price though....
I read this post earlier and was shocked at the prices of valves and seats. These are on my shopping list at the moment. I was thinking of making my own at those prices, anybody know the spec the materials need to be for the seats? you can mark them with a file down the inside so they arn't fully hardened carbon steel. All the reports i've had are that the old seats need to come out to be replaced with new ones even though you are only going up a couple of "mm". Thats not an easy job in itself as far as i can see! What VW / Audi runs 35mm valves stock? any off them? Cheers Domma............
I'm in the same boat. They're a lot cheaper across the pond from Techtonics - around $25 a valve. And they do 7mm stem valves which won't give you as much gain as an oversize but every little helps. There's a bewildering choice and you've got to check on import taxes and carriage but well worth a look. If there are a few of us needing stuff it would be cheaper to put an order together between us. It's around 25 to have a seat fitted so 35mm exhaust valves land at 250+ fitted at UK prices, and without the porting that will allow them to work!!!! Barkstar
I was given the option of a cheaper tip to remove the inside dia of the original seat behind the valve to help air flow and to give the valves the three angle treatment. Not a full larger valve head job but a cost effective choice to the diy head man. Interesting plan on the bulk buy Barkster! Do Techtonics do the seats too? Keep meaning to have a look at their website Cheers Domma........
If the head has been ported and gas flowed I would say your big valve treatment is &rse about face surely. Any shaping and gas flowing you have done exhaust side of the valve seat will be made redundant by the chunk of metal you are about to remove and refit (the new seat). I got some valves for a [cough]nova[cough] a while ago (years) from a place in Gateshead, they could get anything you liked and it certainly wasn't that sort of price. 25 for a solid valve without any smart sodium filling stuff is a bit much.
Try these.... G&S Valves 01483 415444 or gsvalves@aol.com Or... R.E.C (Race Engine Components) 01902 373770
Techtonics don't list seats on the website but the do list these: Oversize Intake Valve for Hyd Lifter 8V (41mm , 7mm stem) Oversize Exhaust Valve for Hyd lifter 8V (34mm, 7mm stem) And I'm sure I've read that 1mm up is okay on std seats Or there's these: Highflow Stainless 40mm intake Hyd. Highflow stainless 33mm exhaust valve hyd. If the oversize valve will go okay then fitted with these: High Flow Tapered Intake Valve Guide-silicone bronze (16V and Crossflow) 7mm High Flow Tapered Exhaust Valve Guide-silicone bronze (16V and Crossflow) 7mm and you get more flow, though the guides will wear quicker, or just stick with std. According to Techtonics the 7mm stem valves and guides are a straight fit into an 8V head Though Mr Hillclimber's lead is interesting as we could get a batch of the above made and not have to get involved with import taxes etc, exchange rates etc I reckon if we are looking to get a bit more flow without breaking the bank something like this would be the ticket - going 35mm is way to expensive - I'd rather spend that money on a good flow job with the above valves. I guess we now know why a full on head for an 8V is 700! Barkstar
R.E.C valves are EXELLENT (they MAY even be made by G&S). I use them, and I've had the misfortune in the past to have a "foriegn body" be digested by my engine (through open carb intakes) and bend a couple of valves (luckily on idle). A very experienced engine builder straightened them for me (even I winced at the idea !) and I've never had a problem with them in a couple of years of hard use at...... rpm ! I've asked this question before but nobody seemed to know, is a 35mm exhaust valve REALLY the way to go for a fast road type engine ? I'm not knocking those that have them (i use an even bigger valve but with an equally larger inlet but not for a road application) but are there any dyno results that prove their effectiveness (a direct back to back test against a 33mm valve with NO other changes) or is it the case that all the VW tuners use them so it must be right, or bigger must be better perhaps ? As a lot of the VW specialists use them somebody should know. I'm with Barkstar on the seat thing. I "think" the inlet can be increased by 0.5 and the exhaust by 0.5 or even 1mm on the standard seats. As far as price goes, i'm sure they should'nt cost more than about 15 quid each, so you could increase both inlet and exhaust for less money (providing the seats WILL take them) and get similar (or maybe better) power gains (as both inlet and exhaust would then have a better shape valve) than just changing exhaust valves AND seats. Worth looking into before you part with yr cash. You maybe able to get an even better price for both (inlet & exhaust) if a few of you want them.
I ran a 2.0 8v with a modded PB head (35mm exh valves) and it revved up to 6000 and beyond with no problems (until it blew up [:^(] due to a duff cam) Same engine with a std head was really strangled over 5k revs. I realise there's more difference here than just the valves, but others report the same thing with modded heads using std valve sizes. So I think for a 2.0 engine (and I don't think you've said what you're building) you really need the bigger valves for top end. For a 1.8 it's probably not so beneficial
Don't most of the VW tuners have their heads built by the same guy - no other than the mysterious man in the shed?! It's an expensive operation to increase valve sizes...tuners wouldn't spend the money on machines and effort if it bore no results... golfs do seem to be unusual in that the exhaust side is a constraint, but I wouldn't go against it...
Bad luck on the blow-up... In theory (that word again ) a 33mm exhaust should be more than enough to go with a 40mm inlet. Thats the problem with trying to compair (no doubt you changed the cam at the same time ?), most of the most of the big exhaust valve conversions seem to be used with other mods so difficult to split the difference. I remember many years ago, the likes of GTi engineering and BRM (yep, i know there's a link) used to use a big exhaust on some specs of head even on 1.8 & 1900 conversions, did they find a real difference (i would have thought that was their objective) or did the 33mm exhaust LOOK small next to the 40mm inlet ? I would'nt imagine VW would have got the ratio too far wrong.
I've got a 3A block to go into my Driver and I've just picked up a PB head to fettle before the big s***. Together with a 266 or 276 cam it should make a nice torquey motor and will look totally std with the bonnet up - and I'm putting the Driver badges back on to lull people into a false sense of superiority If I you can get 1mm over valves on to the std seats then I'd get a set made with 7mm stems (using 16V guides) waisted to 6.5 behind the valve head. With the ports opened up to match and all the rough edges knocked off it should give a useful gain in air shifted without costing crazy cash. An output of around 125-130bhp should be within reach. Next I guess will be to strip the PB head and get my local enginners to have look at those seats. Barkstar
