CVH valve spring supplier

[sawman]

Last summer my 1.6 cvh (carb) was burning a bit of oil. Valve stem oil seals were replaced, which helped, but also had a piston ring issue, needing a head off job. Since the rebuild, a curious rattle has developed, tappets were deemed to be in good shape when the head was off and my engineer suspects an issue with valve springs, but he is having a real job locating replacements.

I'd be grateful for the heads up on a potential supplier.

[stevieturbo]

Piper, Kent or any of the typical Ford tuners.


Although it's a very strange diagnosis. Maybe try a different mechanic ?

[sawman]

Ive got a lot of confidence in the guy, He is going to strip the head down again in a week or so (no cost to me) to hopefully get to the bottom of things, he had suggested swapping out the springs as an initial, possible easy fix, knowing that if it didn't solve the issue a re-strip was on the cards. I now have an additional car, so I can let him have it for a week or so to solve the issues.

[Pumaracing]

sawman said:

Last summer my 1.6 cvh (carb) was burning a bit of oil. Valve stem oil seals were replaced, which helped, but also had a piston ring issue, needing a head off job. Since the rebuild, a curious rattle has developed, tappets were deemed to be in good shape when the head was off and my engineer suspects an issue with valve springs, but he is having a real job locating replacements.

I'd be grateful for the heads up on a potential supplier.

Your engineer is an arse. Ditch him. Read this from the foremost tuner of the CVH engine in the history of the universe, the cosmos, the entirety of creation, the history of everything since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago - ok modesty prevents me from going further but suffice it to say I'm also the winner of the Most Modest Engine Tuner title every year since 1986.

http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/CVH.htm

The CVH valve spring is the most reliable valve spring in the automotive world. I use it as an uprated spring in other engines.

Your cam is shagged and now so are the tappets. They both need replacing.

If your engineer can't find CVH springs, not that you need them, he's an idiot since both Ford and every aftermarket parts distributor still stocks them.

Did I mention I was very modest?

Modesty prevents me from answering that.

[stevieturbo]

And there was me trying to be subtle in my approach lol

[Pumaracing]

We're avin a wight ole malarky today innit wot wiv CVH valve springs n' BMW diesel engines wiv bore wash n' manifold matching. Struth I reckon I've bin watching Lie To Me with Tim Roth too much recently so I'm all gorn a bit Cockney and ars yer farther. Aye! That little movement of yer eyelid, yer know what that means? That's guilt that is. That means yer dunnit an no mistake. I'll ave you son!

Ahem. I do apologise. My therapist is trying to get me back on the straight and narrow and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Innit.

[sawman]

Cheers Fellas,

David, your web page is helpful, I did check that out last year when having the piston rings done, I considered wilder cams etc, at the time, but discovered that my car would be considered modified if I were to take up sprinting in the future, putting me into the "chequebook racer" class, which wasn't really where I wanted to go. Maybe I would have headed my current issue if I had just swapped everything in the head old for new! but the engine only had 30k under its belt (in 21 years) at the time so it didn't seem to be warranted

Anyhow, the guy I have been using has been really good to date with other issues and came highly recommended, so I remain comfortable to let him continue to work on the issue at the moment.

Whilst I have your attention: the noise I am trying to resolve is a rattle, typically after about 2-2.5k rpm, usually when stopping at junctions or whatever and idling the noise stops completely - would this be camshaft?

[Pumaracing]

Sounds more like bottom end to me. Big or little end bearings maybe. Certainly it ain't valve springs.

[Pumaracing]

PS, even if he thinks it's the valve springs all you have to do is whip the rocker cover off and look to see if any are broken. 5 minute job. You don't even have to remove the head to change cam and lifters. I can't see why he would want to strip the head down for any of this. I suppose a rocker nut could be loose but then it would rattle all the time and not just over 2500 rpm.

If the noise has existed since the bottom end was rebuilt then logic says it was whatever got cocked up during the rebuild.

[sawman]

TBH, in his own mind I think he's ruled out the spring thing, which is why he wants to investigate further. I'm happy to let him do this at the moment. I guess its a question of working systematically through the possibilities, right.

Am I right in thinking that the CVH is still pretty well supported with regards spare bits and bobs?

[Pumaracing]

Yep. You can get just about anything for the 1600 still from Ferraris or any other parts supplier or indeed Ford if you want to pay a lot more. Valve springs are £5 a pop from Ford and a mate has just recently bought some from them so lawks knows why your bloke can't find any. Sounds like a good bloke to play hide and seek with though. You could just stand in the middle of the room.

[sawman]

Pumaracing said:

Sounds more like bottom end to me. Big or little end bearings maybe. Certainly it ain't valve springs.

big end bearing set done when piston rings done. The rattle does seem to be top end rather than bottom (to my untrained ears)

How about things like engine mounts causing the rattle?

[Pumaracing]

It could be just about anything and not being able to hear the noise means no one on here can tell.

[sawman]

Pumaracing said:

It could be just about anything and not being able to hear the noise means no one on here can tell.

I do appreciate that David. thanks for your thoughts thus far, cheers