I've never seen any Hughes springs come in here that had'nt lost alot of pressure, in fact I just had to replace all 16 valves in a set of E heads that were in such bad float from the Hughes 1111 springs dying. Also they make you run some goofy shim for the inner spring if you are not running on a stock style J/X head that has a spring step on it, those shims were wearing & pumping metal out. I'll leave it at that since I don't want to start a pissing match.

The 987 Comp's are a little light on the seat for my liking. I'd probably put a set of 978-16 Comp's in it installed at 1.80", ~145 on seat, ~360 open.....use a Comp 741-16 moly 10 degree retainer, & a set of 611-16 Comp locks. Fresh valve job, & install new spring shims or do it right & machine the spring pockets & add a seat locator/cup. I'd use a 4704-16 Comp OD cup if it was me....

When they do the VJ, have the seats intentionally sunk .030" for flow & will help give more room for the thicker .060" locator.

Factory E heads come with single springs with a damper around 110 on seat 280 open, 7 degree retainers & stamped steel 7 degree locks, no cup/loctaor, just some unhardened spring shims under them. Usually a .030" & a .015" depending on how head was machined.