I have a B16A3 and need to know the valve spring tension to put the head back together. This information is nowhere to be found. :bbb: Thanks in advance.

 

Valve spring tension? Are you referring to the retaining nut's torque requirement? If so it is 14-15lbs. Or do you mean clearances?

 

It is in relation to how much pressure the spring has once everything is put together. If it is too high on the valve it will not have enough tension or if it is too low there will be too much. The machine shop that has my head explained this to me. The Chilton's manual show this information to be "not available" and ALLDATA doesn't even say anything about it.

 

Ah, I see you are trying to determine if the valve-springs are within serviceable limits or need replaced. You can check the service manuals in pdf here. One of them has to have the b16a3 motor in it. Pretty much the only place you'll find those tolerances. How old is the motor? It's not something that most people even worry about.

http://www.hondahookup.com/manuals/

 

The motor is out of a 94. I have used a lot of nitrous on it. Whe I took it apart I had a broken exhaust valve. So far I have replace All of the intake valves, all of the valve guides, and the broken exhaust valve. He has done the measurements and all of the springs stand straight/same height.

 

I'm sure you will be fine. I reved my head to 8,500rpm's with 10lbs of boost behind it for 2 years and that was off of an 89 B16a head that was bone stock.

 

I'd just replace em if you're worried. It can't hurt, they aren't too expensive. You know what they say, "When in doubt.....

Anyhow, what do you have to test the spring rates anyway? You could shotgun them by testing a friends in known good condition and comparing them to yours. I doubt that the height of the spring would really give any indication to thier tension rates.

 

I have the head at Carl's Automotive. He is very anal about the work he does, which is good. He just wants the specs before he will put it back together. I was just trying to find them to help him out.

 

I looked through the PDF files on Hondahookup and those are the Mitchell CD version. It is basically an equivilent of ALLDATA. Does anyone have an actual Service Manual from Honda that might have this information?

 

Make sure the valve installed height is within specs. If the valve is sitting too high you won't have enough seat pressure at zero lift for the valvetrain to work properly. If the machine shop seated the valves too deep in the head you will need to shim the valve spring seats to get the correct installed heights. The specs are in the factory service manuals.