I read about at least one guy here that replaced his valves with some aftermarket stuff... Coudn't find anything in the search...
Just wondering how they were holding up..

I think he sold the bike before he rode it very much.

I am also going to the stainless valves. My stock valves just will not stay in tolerence very long. It has to do with the soft titanium valve beating against a hard steel ceat. The stainless valves are supposed to stay in tolerence quite abit longer then the stock valves. I should have the parts in the next week or so. I will post something more once I see how they hold up!!

What did you order and how much did it cost you? I am looking to put some in my bike in the future, just trying to figure out cost and what I need.

Just put in a set of PC ti valves along w/thier springs. They assured me this is the long term fix. The valves were twice the price of stock...they better hold up! Everyone will know it if they don't.

MotoX178 said:

Well I had some problems with my stock head. Suzuki ended up giving me a new one. I sent it off to Eric Gorr to have Him put it together. I do not have the proper tools to remove or replace the valve guides. Plus you are supposed to heat the head up between 250 to 300 degrees to do the job properly. It will cost me $475 for Valves, springs, retainers and buckets...That is the price with him doing the work. As far as porting goes... he suggested that I leave the head stock. He said that for the price of porting the power increase would be minimal for the cost. He said the head is actually very good in stock form.. Hope this helps.......

How much does stainless steel valves weigh? are they heavier than stock? i have only ride my kxf 05 for 8hours and i got to tight intake valves im going to reshim it and hope that its going to work but if not i think i need new valves.

So i would like to know how much aftermarket valves costs in usa

Nystrom said:

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I believe there is something like 15 grams more reciprocating mass. Eric Gorr told me that I would not be able to feel the difference. He said that someone had put one on the dyno before and after the SS valves and that the numbers were exactly the same............

Raistlin said:

Ok sounds good but do you know how much they cost and where could i order them? in sweden the original valves cost 115-120 dollar for 1

I am not sure yet what the kit costs. The only price I have at the moment is what it will cost to have Eric Gorr put the head together for me with the part included. $475. I do not have the head back yet so I do not know what the breakdown will be ie parts vs labor. They kit is made by Kibblewhite. It includes valves, springs, Titanium retainers and new hardened buckets. There does seem to be some wear issues with the buckets too. I have about 30 hrs on mine and the buckets were showing quite abit of wear. This is easily seen. The buckets will have one if not two circles on them. This is not good and it is suggested that you replace them if this wear can be seen. Wish I could tell you more on the price for the kit itself. Sorry....

Nystrom said:

You need new springs with higher closing rate and lighter force when full open. This will alllow you to rev the engine without floating valves.( floating valve=valveprobleme)
I solved my valve tearing with:
1) changing to conical (progressive springs ) 5gr lighter but with higher closing rate than stock
2) lighter retainers 3gr ( stock 6gr)
3) New buckets ( made of harder material )
4) in my opinion SS =going 1 step back (moore weight= moore heat =softens the spring)
There are several companies with own products on the market
I bought mine from www.WMR1.com good service and delivered Norway in 4 days from order.
Wisit their site, there are good stoff to read regarding the above .
Regards,
Lefa

lefa said:

I do not agree with your last statement. If you are going for nothing exept all out preformance then yes. But if you want any longevity out of your top end I disagree. The problem with the stock valves is that the titanium coating on your valves beating against a steel ceat is not going to last very long. The suzuki/kawasaki and Honda's have the most problem with there valves coating wearing off. The ceat is much harder then the stock valve. This the valve is going to wear out quickly. The stainless valve is harder then the ceat. It will last a lot longer then the stock ones. The kit comes with new springs (of a much higher quality then the stock ones) and Titanium retainers (to help reduce weight). The overall weight gain is only 15 grams. In theory you are correct you will lose some power. But in the real world, If you can feel 15 grams more reciprocating mass then you a better person then most. In short, I will take the longevity over the unoticable loss of power.

Well, my reply was to a engine only 8hrs and loosing clearance!

When we by now know that the original springs are soft the most economical medicine to a new engine would be to install springs with higher closing force to avoid floating and thereby loosing clearance. (my opinion).

Stock springs are closing at 28 pound and have 100 pound at the max open. ( they are also equal on the inlet and exhaust)
The conical springs I have installed have 32pound closing and 88 pound at open.(inlet little stronger because the inlet valve is heavier (Ti valve )
When Dynotesting the float started at 8500r/min on my 20hr hard riding engine .(yes it lost clearance)
after changing to new springs we went good up to 11800/min with still OK harmony.and no sign of floating.

Floating = when the valve does not follow the cam .
the spring closing force has the most influence on this.

If you want to use moore money there is a lot you can do to the valve train , lot of threads with that stuff.
New seats in bronze materials for the Ti valves , SS-valves with heavier springs , longer valve guidings in other materials, New Ti valves made from 1-piece material with higher mat.quality etz, the list is long.

But our experience so far is :
1)New lighter springs and retainers with heavier closing force
2)Keep the valve clearance in the higher tolerances we have 0,008 exhaust; 0,006 inlet = leads the heat better from the valves = last longer ( check the clearance often its only a 15min job)
3) the engine is designed for Ti valves and with respect to massforces at 10.000r/m on the cam, buckets, cam bearings and bearingcups we decided to stay with TI-valves.
4) Don`t overheat the engine ( 05 shouldn't`t have that problems with larger rads.)
5) ride it ones its warmed up and ride it fast
6) Try to avoid +11000r/min best torque. is 8.000-10.000 anyway.

Finally we like the easy handling and the performace of this bike , it is a racer, and we like to ride it hard, that´s what it´s built for isn´t?

Maintenance and wrenching is a part of the game we should not forget that! Lefa

Well, I will agree with you that the springs are definately the weak point in the valve train. The stock springs are reall nothing but junk. Weak springs will cause the valve to wear very quickly. I just do not trust the stock valves. The suzuki/kawasaki and honda use a different process to coat their valves then the yamaha does. It for some reason or another it does not seem to hold up as well as the yamaha's do. As far as the bike goes, it is by far the best handling of the bunch in my opinion!! I have had a 2002 yz250f and a 2004 crf250 and I like the 2005 rmz250 better then either of the first two. My friend has a 2005 yz250f and it seems to have more top end power. But the rmz has far better bottom and midrange power and definately handles better.

Is valve and spring replacement a difficult job ? Will I have to do anything to the seats or guides ? I know I could do a swap but I'm not doing any grinding or resurfacing.

Quote

I bought a 04 RMZ, the bike only had about 8 hours when I bought it. My son
has put 4 more on it. I checked the valves and all where pretty tight. So I
took it to a mechanic and after adjusting the valves he told me of a few things
he noticed. The hard coating on the the exhaust cam and there buckets is
coming off. He said, that because of where it is coming off (on the back side
of the cam lobe) the springs are weak and or it has been on the rev limiter
way to much. So basically from my own experience I would have to agree.
The springs are not what they should be for this bike. Unless your just going
to putt around on these bikes you might want to thing seriously on some
after market springs and valves.

I'm going to reshim mine now looked at it today and it might not be so bad as i first thought but if it happens one more time there will be new valves and springs or could it be enough whit just new springs?

willetts said:

The valve springs are not to hard to change if you have the right tools. You will have to pull the head off and have a good spring compressor to get the springs out. You do not have to mess with the guides or seats unless they are in bad shape. If it is only springs that need replacing, you do not even have to pull the valves out. The only tricky part is getting the little clips that hold the spring retainer to the valve stem. Can be pain sometimes. Just not much room to work in. Hope this helps.

[quote name='amotodad']I bought a 04 RMZ, the bike only had about 8 hours when I bought it. My son
has put 4 more on it. I checked the valves and all where pretty tight. So I
took it to a mechanic and after adjusting the valves he told me of a few things
he noticed. The hard coating on the the exhaust cam and there buckets is
coming off.

I would be very carefull about the buckets. They are probably the next weakest part of the valvtrain on the suzuki. They are very soft and do not last long. If you can see a clear circle on the bucket and usually one on the inside (the same size as the shim) and one on the outside I would suggest replacing them. When one of these break it is not pretty what it does to the head (usually completly destroys the head). I would suggest buying a good set of aftermarket buckets made of hardened steel. I personally have never heard of a problem with the cams themselfs. But have heard of many problems with the stock buckets and springs. I have heard that once you have to drop your shim size by about 15 to 20% to bring the clearance back into spec you should consider replacing the valves. If you replace the stock springs with a good set of aftermarket ones it should keep its valve clearance a lot longer. The problem is when the springs get weak they do not keep the valve and bucket on the cam (Valvle float) and the valve gets slammed shut by the compression of the bike or they bounce on the seat!! This will kill your valves very quickly!! Hope this helps

Quote

Yea your right thats why were going to do everything while where there. Valves
buckets, springs and cams. By the way anybody put in Hot Cams in the RMZ?