I need to mock up my rocker shafts & valve train so I can mount both heads on my short block and verify adequate pushrod clearance. While collecting the parts (checking springs, retainers, locks, valves, etc.) I grabbed a set of lightweight ti retainers I'd bought many years ago for a previous build. I had provided them, along with some other parts, to the engine shop that was freshening my heads and building me a new short block at the time.

These retainers were the proper size for the springs that I asked to be used with the cam that I also provided. Well, the engine builder had a "favorite" spring for solid flat-tappet applications that he decided to use instead... and the ti retainers I provided didn't fit them because the inner step OD was too large for the spring. Instead of letting me know about wanting to use different springs and that my $$$ retainers didn't match the springs, he decided to cut the inner step to fit the other springs.

I'm not exactly sure how he did this modification, but it was a hack job. The machined steps looked like they were done with a hand file, the steps were no longer perfectly round (you could see the waves in the surface) and he didn't even bother to clean up the ragged edges after he was finished. When I got the parts back, I was disappointed to say the least. I tried to fix them by redoing the steps on a friends Smithy lathe, but I had to take off so much additional material to clean things up that they no longer fit the springs properly.

So, all these years later I still have these retainers. I use them for installing checking springs for flow bench tests and jobs like today's where I need to mock up the whole valve train to check "stuff". They also serve as a reminder that I have a known set of businesses who will no longer touch my parts due to this sort of sh!tty work.