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Hughes Valves

Posted By: 340king

Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 04:36 AM

I am working on a 318 Magnum (EQ) headed engine for a limited circle track class of modified. I tested the heads with the Hughes 1.92" intake and the 1.625" exhaust 8mm valves. I only bought one of each to do the mock up of the head and to see what they looked like.

The valves appear to be of decent construction. My question is has anybody used them before? What were your experiences? One of the main reasons that I ask is the low price. I would hate to lose an engine due to an $11 valve failure. I would hate to lose it to a $20 valve failure too. I just don't have any history with these valves.

Thanks!
Posted By: Triple Threat

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 05:11 PM

A close friend of mine bought a set of CNC edelbrocks from hughes with their valves. It broke a valve shortly after install, not many passes on it, with a solid flat tappet.

Personally I'd go with Ferrea or Manley, its not worth the risk. I have broken a manley valve, and when I redid my current heads I still opted to have manleys put back in.
Posted By: BradH

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 05:26 PM

I think (not 100% sure) they're made by SI. I have a few of them in various big-block sizes and would say they're OK, but definitely not finished as nicely as a Ferrea or Manley. The ones I have tend to be heavier in comparison to those brands and are not machined to allow for adding back-cuts easily.

Also, the CNC Edelbrocks I got from Hughes came w/ the Edelbrock-supplied valves, not their in-house valves. I asked them specifically what brand of valves came w/ their ported heads before buying a set, knowing the valves from Edelbrock are nicer (look like Ferreas to me).

However, that would probably not be the case if their porting job uses larger-than-standard valve sizes, like when they use 2.19" intakes in BB Performer RPMs.
Posted By: StandOnIt

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 09:24 PM

I bought a set of magnum heads from a guy around here that had those valves with the Hughes hyd roller valve springs installed. More than half the valves were bent and would not come out of the guides. Was run with a Comp cam around .570ish lift if I remember correctly. I dont know what rockers he used tho. I run the Hughes magnum bar 1.65 ratio rockers and my valves are steady as a rock in my EQ heads. I dont have the Hughes valves in mine tho.
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 10:24 PM

Quote:

A close friend of mine bought a set of CNC edelbrocks from hughes with their valves. It broke a valve shortly after install, not many passes on it, with a solid flat tappet.

Personally I'd go with Ferrea or Manley, its not worth the risk. I have broken a manley valve, and when I redid my current heads I still opted to have manleys put back in.



I have looked for anything in the stock 1.92" diameter and haven't found a single source. I would certainly use Ferrea if they made a valve that matched the parameters that we are faced with.

We can use a Chevy 1.94" intake valve, but we would have to turn it down to the 1.92" so that the valve job, which is restricted to 1/4" below the top of the seat cut for valve job, can be made to fit. A better valve job using just the 60° - 45° - 30° angles just fits. So going to a larger valve is out of the question.

I am open to any other sources also. I just want the best reasonably priced valves I can find for this engine. $20 a valve is what I would call reasonable.

Thanks for the replies.
Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 10:33 PM

This is were I have been buying my valves. It may be worth a call or do some research on their site to see what they offer.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230612099884?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Posted By: BBR

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 10:44 PM

www.sivalves.com

Probably have what you want. They were super helpful.


edit>>> http://www.sivalves.com/ocdomestic_valvesps_dodge.html
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/24/13 11:55 PM

I looked at Ferrea as I have their master catalog here on my desk. We would have to modify their 11/32" stemmed 1.94" valve to make it fit the 1.92" seat. They do offer a 1.625 exhaust valve also that could be made to work. I am not totally opposed to reaming out the guides and going to the 11/32" stems, however, if there is a good quality 5/16" stemmed set of valves that I can use, then I am all for using the lighter valves. That is as long as durability isn't compromised.

I have looked through SI a couple of times. Other than a stock replacement valve, they don't offer anything performance wise. Like the other manufacturers, they only offer 2.00" plus valve sizes in their performance series of valves. It is hard to find stock diameter performance valves.

This is a photo of the Hughes valves. They look decent. I didn't chuck them up to check for run out yet.

Attached picture 7717861-CIMG0407.jpg
Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 01:19 AM

There are so many no-name stainless valves on the market now so you have to be careful. We upgraded my sons small block Edelbrock heads a few years ago and one of his valves chunked off on #3 cylinder. We lucked out as we pulled the head, got a new valve and I did a valve job on it, assembled the head and before we installed the head I turned the engine over. Or tried to turn it over as the piece of valve went thru the victor intake and dropped in a cylinder on the other side. We pulled that head, removed the piece, inspected the head, assembled everything and raced the next weekend. Like I said WE LUCKED OUT.

Call either Todd@CompetitionWedge or Dan@Performance Only and see if they can find you something in the REV valve line. Pretty sure they both use and recommend them.
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 01:26 AM

REV was one of the companies that I looked through. Some of them don't list their valves ranked by size, so it is hard to tell if they have something in that particular size. They don't list them in the application reference on the website, but that doesn't mean much.
Posted By: VernMotor

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 02:29 AM

Victory valves. they are know for titanium valves. but they sell stainless steel . they call them Severe Performance valve.

http://www.titaniumvalve.com/

Might help not sure
Posted By: BBR

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 03:19 AM

Aren't Magnums 8mm and not 5/16?
Posted By: dusturbd340W5

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 03:26 AM

5/16 is 7.9375 mm
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 03:55 AM

I will check with Victory next week when we are all back to work. Thanks for the reference.
Posted By: Crizila

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 01:55 PM

Quote:

I am working on a 318 Magnum (EQ) headed engine for a limited circle track class of modified. I tested the heads with the Hughes 1.92" intake and the 1.625" exhaust 8mm valves. I only bought one of each to do the mock up of the head and to see what they looked like.

The valves appear to be of decent construction. My question is has anybody used them before? What were your experiences? One of the main reasons that I ask is the low price. I would hate to lose an engine due to an $11 valve failure. I would hate to lose it to a $20 valve failure too. I just don't have any history with these valves.

Thanks!

Been running them a long time. I believe they are SI's. You are looking at some that I have run for 5 years through 2 sets of guides. Back cut.

Attached picture 7718338-seatwidth.jpg
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 06:28 PM

Thanks Crizila, that was the kind of information that I was looking for. I hate to be the Guinea pig!!

We are looking at all angles, including having someone fabricate custom valves for this combo. The Hughes valves are a step up from anything else that I can find when it comes to installed height and such. Even with that, there could be some improvement for what we are planning to do, so we may opt in the end to go with a custom set of valves. Time and money sure will dictate that some.

Thanks for the replies.
Posted By: CompWedgeEngines

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 06:54 PM

What I/H are you using? Are the spring pads uncut? What legth valve is it you need?
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/25/13 09:09 PM

Quote:

What I/H are you using? Are the spring pads uncut? What length valve is it you need?



We are shooting for around the 1.800" IH range. The spring possibilities really open in that range. We haven't touched the heads with any tooling, other than to see what valve cutter insert might work best on the Serdi (by hand). I haven't looked over the spring pad thickness possibility yet. We will look at that as an option to get the best spring IH. The Hughes valves are 5.014" OAL from what I measured. That is 0.100" longer than stock by advertisement. That should set us up at 1.750" for IH. So a 5.065" OAL might fit the bill, but it might not also hurt to have some more valve above the retainer, so just say 5.100" OAL should be close.

It is the old pluses and minuses game here. Taller valves helps spring selection and stud clearance, but hurts push rod clearance on intake face of head. It also adds weight, albeit a small amount.
Posted By: BBR

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/27/13 02:18 PM

Quote:

5/16 is 7.9375 mm



Which is not 8mm. Put a 5/16 valve in a guide sized for 8mm and I don't think you will be happy with the results.
Posted By: 340king

Re: Hughes Valves - 05/27/13 11:36 PM

The guides are loose from Toowoomba OOTB. I have been told by several people to line the guides to keep from having issues with sticking a valve. These guides are way too loose to run with the Hughes valves anyway, so bronze liners are in the future for these heads.

The valves measure 5/16" on the stem. The guides could be 8 mm, which would be wrong for a Magnum as the are 5/16" stems. No big deal, they were getting lined anyway.
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