Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance 235 head valve springs

Any suggestions you have used besides the often mentioned 455 Buick springs?
Cam has about .430 actual lift at the valve.The stock springs for example are probably too weak and by my observation are nearly coil bound at this lift.

There are many 1-1/4" high performance springs available, but most are too short.
The stock assembled height is about 1.86".
The Buick (TRW #VS1020) single spring with damper lifts to .440", height 1.89", pressures 78/242 lbs.
Buick VS1016 single spring with damper lifts to .420", height 1.87", pressures 80/204 lbs.

I run stock 235 (not the stronger 261) springs on my daily driver 261 with milled 848 head and .433 net valve lift symmetrical reground 261 cam.
Plenty of spring left at full compression....see picture in the link.
4 years and 12K miles without problems.

Valve lift on the later 235 and 261 stock cams is pretty good:
261 solid cam (also used in late 235) is .416
late 235 hydraulic cam is .407

The stock 235 and 261 springs are very similar (307 vs 318 lbs. per inch), most of the extra pressure is due to the higher 261's lift.

I was at the machine shop using the valve spring travel and pressure tester.
Stock 235 spring,has about 70 lbs on the seat and 200 lbs at .430 lift.It also comes within .040 of coil bind at .430 lift.Too close for comfort and will shorten spring life.Stuff needs to be checked out ,it's all the same but different..........
The shop had a set of used 455 Buick springs,these are a single spring with an inner damper and the seat and open pressures were nearly identical to the 235 spring except the Buick spring was no where near coil bind.The Buick installed height is 1.9... my 235 head is actually 1.860.However the Buick spring is a too tight fit on the stock 235 retainer and not designed to deal with the inner damper spring.The machinist gave me a handful full of different aftermarket retainers to try out.I found one that sets the installed spring height at 1.890,close enough.