Custom valve spring locators

[travis]

Is there anybody out there that will make a one off set of spring locators for a reasonable price?

The heads I am working on have a 1.46” spring seat, and a 0.625” guide OD. Everything I find that fits the guide is 1.550” or bigger and that won’t fit without seriously cutting the heads screw in core plugs. The guides also have some bad spots in them...I’m afraid trying to cut them down smaller is going to destroy them. Plus with the thick walled guide liners in place that is going to make the guide really thin.

I can find .570” ID locators all day long. Would drilling a .570 ID to .630 be an option? Most locators are .060” thick on the base...I’m assuming the ID would be the same thickness. If so, then drilling the ID would leave that area .030” thick. It seems like that “should” be enough.

I have not been able to find a .570” OD guide cutter.

Or would it be better to just have the OD of a inside locator cut down to fit my spring seat?

[PRH]

Comp Cams 4733

[ProPower engines]

Comp Cams 4733

The comp cutter is a bit small at 1.440 the OP needs 1.460.
Cylinder head supply has a spring seat cutter at 1.476 part number SL 1460.

This is an issue that has come up in the last 10 years where the older designed spring seat cutters that used the larger
ID of .625-.630 are not easy to find any more although its not uncommon to have a large selection of cutters for different
heads and a variety of guide post OD's..
Comp used to also list a 1.437 and a 1.500 with a .625 guide post cutter sizes as well as a few others but now that the
springs designs have changed a ton over the last 20 years the trend in a lot of cases is the bee hive set ups which are
not like the old school springs like the days of only having a .500 seal cutter is gone now that there is a wider selection of
seals available.
Hell I am working on some old GM 370 castings for a resto project that had the thread in style of bronze inserts installed into .502 cast guides and they were cut for a smaller seal and the inserts were visible through the tops of some of the guides
as they were not straight to the guide centers.

[russxr67]

Why not cut the OD of the locator down ?

[PRH]

The heads I am working on have a 1.46” spring seat

There was no indication in the OP that the spring pockets needed to go any deeper.
He wanted to be able to cut the OD of the guide boss down to fit the locators.

Cut till you’re even with the original spring pad.

In any case........ looks like you’ve found one that would allow you to go deeper if you needed to.