Types of Valve Springs

CYLINDRICAL VALVE SPRING

GSC Power-Division Cylindrical Valve Springs are the most economical way to keep your valvetrain in check with most S1 or S2 GSC cam profiles. Cylindrical valve springs make a great option for daily driven hot rods which need the minimum amount of spring pressure for high mileage reliability without causing strain on your wallet. Coupled with lightweight retainers made from the same high quality Grade 5 titanium as our race only options, quality and performance is not sacrificed. In flat tappet engines, spring pressure can play a role in the longevity of a performance cam when used during street duty, where long periods of idle and low RPM driving are unavoidable. In these cases, the lower spring pressure is helpful in keeping stress to a minimum while keeping valve motion in complete control when the throttle is opened up.

  


DUAL CYLINDRICAL VALVE SPRING

GSC Dual spring units reduce oscillation by using two different frequency springs, a small inner spring with a large outer spring of different rates. The interference fit between these springs dampen harmonics while adding spring pressures required to control valve movement with aggressive cams, even on boosted and high RPM applications. Dual springs also add a safety net of having a redundant spring to keep the valve closed in the event of a failure, potentially reducing piston and valvetrain damage. Weight reduction comes from high quality CNC machined Grade 5 titanium retainers while Nano-peen finishing the spring wire produces the lowest possible fatigue loss of any dual spring kit available in the market.

  


BEEHIVE VALVE SPRING

GSC Beehive valve springs offer advanced engineering, using progressively wound coils from high quality ovate wire, combined with smaller diameter top coils which enhance spring frequency and control under high boost and high RPM conditions even with big lift GSC forged billet cams. The beehive shape is more stable than standard single or dual cylindrical springs. The beehive design is more than capable of the performance demands that were previously only matched by a dual spring setup. Small, lightweight Titanium retainers reduce valvetrain mass allowing for faster valve accelerations caused by aggressive camshaft profiles.


CONICAL VALVE SPRING

What sets a conical spring apart from a cylindrical or beehive spring is harmonic stability. Dual cylindrical valve springs have often been turned to when added stability is needed, but the drawbacks include added weight, as well as an increase in valvetrain wear from the interference fit of the inner and outer spring. Conical springs are a great alternative to expensive dual spring units, but they too have limitations by design.

A conical spring has varying diameter coils and a progressive rate which causes a self damping effect. If one coil reaches its harmonic frequency, the neighboring coils act to dampen the resonating coil. This effect dramatically decreases spring oscillations at high RPMs. Every GSC Conical spring offers a Super Finished surface treatment to go along with cutting edge, patented heat treatment procedures to make for the most reliable high performance spring available for the aftermarket.