Iron or Bronze guides?

[JeffG]

Which is prefered in a factory iron and why?

Thanks in advance,

 

[JeffG]

Wow, I would have thought someone would have some opinions on this. I've got iron guides in the heads now but a couple are showing some wear. My Cyl Head guy wants to switch over to bronze. He seems to think they will actaully last longer then the iron guides. I have my doubts (I am no expert by any means), so I thought I would toss it out there to you guys...............

 

[65vette396]

If you are going to run a high performance Stainless steel valve I would change to bronze for sure, if you are going to run stock valves, I would still consider it. I had a Big block chevy we built one time and left the Iron Guides in it with a set of stainless valves and it gauled up on of the valves. Valve stuck, bent the valve, replaced all the guides with bronze and haven't had issues since. Drew

 

[JeffG]

Ah,a reply. Thank you. Two of my SS exh valves were slightly gauled, but at the top and bottom of the vavle. I just wrote that off to a worn guide and a valve stem rocking back and forth in there.

Thx,

 

[gofstbuick]

You may want to consider bronze liners. A little thinner and appears to be just as durable as replacement bronze guides

 

[JeffG]

Interesting. My Champs came with liners and they failed after a few hundred miles. That was when I had new irons installed. After talking to several machine shops in my area, they all said liners are a joke, even if installed properly, which they rarely are to begin with. This is by no means a slam on your response (I appreciate it), I am just passing along what I have seen/heard.

Thx,

 

[gofstbuick]

I've only got 4000 miles on them, so I'll let you know in about a 100,000 miles form now if they last that long .

 

[JeffG]

I like that answer....good one . I hope they work better for you then they did for me. At 4k miles, they already outlasted the ones I had.