Just when everything was goin great!

Putting back together my 2002 650, and was having great fun putting it back together, the end was near, was already getting worked up for the first test ride and then 'disaster' (well a small one, but still)

Was turning the engine around with a spanner to see that I didn't mess the valve timing up, and suddenly BANG, nearly gave me a heart attack!

What happened was, I used (suggested by the people from enginehardware.se) KTM 450(I think) titanium valve springs. Their form is not a wedged (large on bottom, smaller on top) form like the stok husa springs, but the same diameter all the way up. As you can see in the pic (rh inlet) the valve spring touches the side of the cilinder head and that made it stuck in the open position, and when the piston came back up, it pushed it back making it snap into the tappet. Big bang for a little problem, gave me a good scare at first! Tought I messed up seriously inside the engine!

So is there anybody else here, that has used these valve springs? And how did you solve it? I was thinking of just grinding away a little bit of metal where the valve spring touches the head. Apparantly according to the guys form enginehardware they use these springs in all their racing bikes, so there must be a good solution (I've mailed them but won't recieve an answer until after the weekend, and want to get it on the road by monday if possible.) So good or bad idea to grind the head a bit?

Another problem is that I had to press open my new timing chain(wich I only pressed closed half an hour before ), can i use the link again? or should i get a new link? Are cam chain sizes the same on all the makes or do I need a Husa specific link? Reason for asking is that there is a mx dealer not far from here but he only does the big four brands. And there is no husa dealer nearby.

I bought the entire kit, base washers, springs and top washers, must be the picture that makes it look bad.

Motox502 said:

I run KTM Dual springs for the Ti valves in both my race Bergs. I would not recommened running these springs with the stock stainless valves because the spring rate is way less than the stock springs which could cause the valves to float and smack the piston. If you can get away with grinding a little bit from the head without taking to much of the valve cover sealing surface, you should be fine.

Click to expand...

How did you solve the valve spring touching the head? Or wasn't it an issue in your case?

What kind of base washer did you use? The washers included with the kit are about 1mm smaller than the stock base washer, so they can move a little.

The valve float, that would be caused by the heavier steel valves with the soft springs? Have you actually had this happen? Or is it more a suspicion?

Thanks for the answer.