unless they fixed that spring compressor tool it has to be modified to use in an ap1 with the intake manifold still on the head.

also, this is the company that originally (as far as I can tell anyway) made that tool

http://www.euroexportinc.com/store/h...ompressor.html

 

wow! That must have been one hell of a misshift. Glad you got everything fixed before dropping any valves into the motor. I did both intake and exhaust side with ap2 retainers.

 

Yea, i think i mentioned that a few times through out, i am going to post pictures up of roughly how much needed to be grinded off.
Took me maybe 20 min of back and forth from the grinder to get it perfect. i prefer to order my parts from Fullblown, Real Street, and Kings Performance, as all 3 have treated me well, and been timely with the shipping. Id rather have an issue with a dealer in the US than them. (east coast companies if i can lol)

Im honestly not sure, i havent miss shifted it but once that i can remember, right when i got it bout 2 1/2 years ago. i have had a few grinds here and there, but i dont track, and i dont street race. if i am going fast its typical up shifting not down shifting... i am the 3rd owner tho. so who knows how bad its been for how long. but like i said, all numbers are good, i am prepping for boost so im making sure i am safe.

 

You can (and should) look at it another way:
The retainers held on while being severely cracked, who knows for how long, it might be as long as 2 1/2 years.
A "shitty" retainer would have split and dropped the valve the second after it got damaged this bad.
Your retainer didn't.
The material it is made of is evidently strong enough to keep working, while the "structure" of the retainer is substantially compromised.
(sounds good, doesn't it? )
This strong material, in return, would indicate it is not that easy to crack a retainer in the first place.

Finding 16 cracked retainers while prepping for boost, just replacing the retainers and calling it a day, is something I would NEVER have done.
But that's me.



Btw.. there are machined marking on all the cam gears / sprockets.
To line them up during installing.
In general it is to mark stuff before taking it apart but in this case not necessary.

 

i didnt take mine off @ TDC so i just opted to paint them.
and i didnt have 16 cracked retainers
i had 6 bad ones... 5 were barely noticeable to naked eye, and then 5 were perfect... even billman will say this is pretty common and i know plenty of people that have found almost all of their intake side cracked and they slap ap2 retainers in and boost with no issues...

either way, if my motor is f*cked its not like theres much i can do... but i think its good. got a few more things to check before i say that for sure but ya know.

 

6 + 5 = 11
My bad.

[Nitpicking]
It does not matter in what position you remove the cams & rockers.
Once you're ready to put it all back in you can rotate the crank and line-up the markings on the chain sprocket with the head.
Then you line up the cam gears with the chain sprocket.
Its in the service manual too, and yes, I have done this.
[/Nitpicking]


Billman may say this is all common, he also says, on his car, even after a lot of hard miles, all AP1 retainers are still ok.
9k all day, no problem.
As far as I can tell, based on just 1 (yes one, my own) F20C2 head with AP1 retainers, after 144k km, all retainers were fine, so they are not shitty or weak by default.
And this engine was slightly mech. overreved (9200-9300 rpm) a couple of times.
Not all valves were perfectly straight btw, measured in a lathe at work.
Nevertheless I replaced them for AP2's because Honda uses AP2's on post MY'04 F20's as well.
This could very well be because of the angle ratio change.
If you go to the root of the problem, WHY do retainers crack, it becomes .. how to call this... difficult?
If you change WHY by WHEN, its safe to state that below or at redline they will be fine, above redline the problems start.
This leads to: cracked retainers = overrev.
The only way ,IMO, to see what problems you have - or not - is to lift the head.

 

in the case of a bent valve, why would my compression numbers all have flying colors? aswell as a leakdown? if i had a bent valve it would not properly seat and allow a pressure leak. this would have shown up would it not? (half arguing/half thinking)

I still need fuel pump, injectors, and EMS before i boost, so i have some time to mull over any other potential issues.

i have noticed my motor is much quieter now, but that could have partly been the valve adjustment im sure it needed.

At this point, i can probably be ready by christmas to have the car turbo, but if i start throwing money at ghost problems or things that most likely arent there then its just going to push me farther back...

 

Bump for answer?

 

IMO you don't have to bend 'm to crack 'm
Your retainers are surely cracked (duh ) but the valves are probably not bend.
IMO, half (fully!) arguing / thinking, retainers crack because the valve lands on its seat at speed, much higher then when (*)controlled by the cam, IOW the cam sprins faster than the valve is able to move up = overrev.
So, IMO, overrev = valve lands hard on the seat = cracked retainers.
Severe overrev = piston-valve contact = bend valve = shaky idle, etc.

Simply put: if I would find cracked retainers in my engine I would pull the head.
Just because I lack the experience to judge by compression & leak down tests if the valves and seats are ok.
What I mean is, if you find cracked retainers and you pull the head and find nothing but craked retainers on 5 engines, you start thinking: why should pull the head on #6?
I do not work on cars for a living, I just work on my own, when needed.



(*) edit: I meant controlled, not uncontrolled.
Controlled by cam below 9k, uncontrolled during overrev.

 

thanks for the words lol, i called honda and talked to two shops, they said if my engine compression and leakdown dont worry about it, its all fine. and from the stealership: "Its a honda man, slap a turbo on it and beat the hell out of it, youll be fine" lol. the guy was one of the mechanics there. I just changed all the rest of the fluids this morn and i am getting the diffuser refit atm. As i get my EMS and injectors etc put in ill have more time to see around it.

I have never heard of valve issues with cracked retainers unless the retainer lets go, and there were a few posts in FI forum recently.