Jump to content
HybridZ

valvetrain math


skirkland1980

Recommended Posts

Is there a formula that valve spring manufacturers use to recommend a certain valve spring pressure? I know it all depends on valve train reciprocating mass and rpm. The L28 valve spring feels a lot stiffer than a stock genI sbc valve spring and the L28 has less reciprocating mass in the valve train. Are valve spring upgrades even necessary on the L28? The sticky about valve train balancing left me with this question. Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The springs need to be stiff enough in order to not hit resonance within the bounds of your rpm range.

 

fn = 0.5 * (k/m)0.5

 

Where,

fn is the natural frequency

k is stiffness

m is mass

 

Solve for k to get stiffness...

 

As you can see, resonance is a function of spring stiffness (and mass). I'm not sure what you mean by "valve spring pressure". If it's pressure at the valve seat or open pressure that you're after, that can be easily calculated once stiffness is known.

 

http://www.efunda.com/DesignStandards/springs/spring_frequency.cfm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. This will give me something to exercise my brain. I have also heard that springs my resonate at say, 8500 rpm, and not at 9000 rpm for example so to be sure you still need spintron data. This should get me in the ballpark.

A resonant frequency is just that, one distinct frequency at which something resonates. So yes, if the resonant frequency of a certain spring coincides with 8500rpm, it will not resonate at 9000rpm, although it will experience more motion than when further away from fn.

 

It will also resonate (although amplitude will be less) at other, "harmonic" ferquencies, i.e. 17000rpm, 25500rpm, etc. However, we don't really need to worry about this here...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...