I'm going to be doing a 468 build up...should I get Manley valves or are some cheaper run of the mill valves going to be okay? They will be 2.19/1.88 valves in 781 heads. Just wondering if they really have a good advantage over other valves at ~$14/ea?

I had an exhaust valve break off from its stem once. They were cheap aftermarket valves. Wasn't a pretty picture. :eek: graemlins/sad.gif

It punched a hole in the piston, the head, cracked the cylinder wall of the block (was able to save by sleeving), cracked the connecting rod and cracked the crankshaft.

Since then, I decided not to go "cheap" on internal engine parts. I now use Manley "Severe Duty" valves. They are abit more, but I think its worth it in the long run.

I've had good and bad luck with Manley Valves and the Same with SI Valves which are considered " cheap ". All valves will break when they come in contact with a piston. I had a stelite ( sp ) tip " fall " off a new Manley Pro Flow during its 1st assembly.
I've broke both Manleys and SI's. I have a friend that ran SI Valves in a Blown Injected 468 in a Bonneville Roadster that runs 230 MPH .. cant be all that bad ...

ethier way, i've always had to resurface them right out of the box.
Factories are usually pushed to get them out the door, so on the production lines, they dont let them "spark out" on the machines.
Once in a while i get new valves that seat, but its a rare occasion. Manley, SBI, sealed power have all been the same.
Even some new titanium valves need to be touched on the valve grinder.

Ethier way, i believe in buying a quality product the first time.

Taylor,
It really depends on the valve spring pressure you are planning to run. If it is a small hydraulic cam, almost any decent valve will be ok. If its a full blown roller, with 200lb seat pressure and 600 open ... you had better use something real good. We have had very good luck with Ferrea valves. They make them in several different price ranges. I have seen them bent like a pretzel, and never break.

Ditto on the Ferrea, use them almost exclusively in performance applications for Stainless
And,,, I have never had to reface a new Ferrea.
Outstanding quality & finish.

For Titanium I use mostly Victory & their quality control & service is about as good as it gets. Again, never had to reface one out of the box.
I just ordered a set of custom Titanium's from Victory at about 5pm on Fri & they are doing them from blanks, bead locks, special length etc. & I will have them on Tue.

We were down in Daytona racing a few years back and the owner of Ferrea was walking around talking to crews (big guys and small guys)trying to drum up interest for his valves, we were impressed by his demeanor a real nice guy so we tried 2 sets and have never gone back. Their stuff flat out works right the first time, Mike is spot on about rework there is none needed. Pay me now or pay me later!

I run the Ferrea's in the high stepping 427, although I bought a set of $100 ss valves from CompProducts for the 5000 rpm "tow" motor.

Brian
If every set of valves you buy have to be cleaned up try cleaning the collet in your valve grinder and checking the stem with an indicator.
Most stuff I have checked run within .0005 t.i.r

we dont check them in the grinder before hand, we check them with a vacuum tester on the port, usually the valve needs to be touched.
Not always, but at least a few in the bunch.