Valve stem groove

[Tunnelwedge]

I'm seeing some grooving on the valve stem.
REV valves and a 600 lbs spring and an Erson roller tip solid roller RV cam. 5 years and 10k mileage.
I'm going to a much lighter spring and a stock rocker and a solid lifter RV cam.
Drive it for another 10k and they will be grooved and mushroomed.

[1968galaxie]

Valves without enough hardening depth.
Sometimes caused when valve tips are ground reducing hardened depth.
I have had 1 valve out of 8 show similar grooving after <500 miles (800lbs open) These were Ferrea Competition Plus valves.
Replaced the one valve and then went to lash caps.

[blykins]

Typically don't need lash caps or hardened tips unless it's titanium or a hollow-stem stainless valve.  600 lbs of open spring load isn't enough to hurt a stainless valve, unless there was not enough lubrication. 

I'm leaning toward an incorrect heat treat on the valves.

[1968galaxie]

I agree that at 600 lbs open, one shouldn't need lash caps on a stainless valve.
However, the hardening is not all that deep on any stainless valve - unless it has stellite tips friction welded to the top (in the old days)
I have seen some machine shops grinding off far too much on valve tips. The heat treatment will not allow much to be taken off.
Lash cap to me is extra safety - if the geometry is adjusted. Not always needed - but better than battered valve tips.

[hbstang]

i would replace the valaves myself as it should not do that in low miles.imho.

[Barry_R]

Should not have happened.
Most valves have a welded hard tip - stainless is not easy to harden - and you don't want the entire stem hard.
Ferrea does it on race stuff.
Looking at the side of the tip you should be able to see the change in color where a hard tip is friction welded to the stainless stem.
Rollers do focus all the load on a small line contact area.
I also suspect a material issue, valvetrain instability, or grinding through the tip at setup.

[1968galaxie]

Lack of oil can also lead to valve tip failure.
The oiling helps lubricate as well as cool the interface between the valve tip and roller.
Lack of oil would certainly heat up the area to the point of annealing the valve tip.

I would verify that you are getting enough oiling to the rocker arm roller and valve tip.
I am now leaning to this reasoning.

I know that some go to great lengths to reduce oiling to the rocker arms in FE's.
Verify oiling to rocker roller and valve tip.

[66FAIRLANE]

Happened on my standard Edelbrock heads with Erson rockers many years back with a reasonably aggressive Lunati solid flat tappet. I put it down to to over revving (lots of 6000's, quite a few 6500's and the occasional zip to 7000, then the valve springs really gave up & I couldn't hit 6!). I covered everything with a shop towel, left individual tips poking through, dressed them with an angle grinder and ran lash caps. They were fine thereafter for many years until the heads came off for a rebuild. Ran lash caps since as I don't think the tips were hardened very well.

[Barry_R]

Happened on my standard Edelbrock heads with Erson rockers many years back with a reasonably aggressive Lunati solid flat tappet. I put it down to to over revving (lots of 6000's, quite a few 6500's and the occasional zip to 7000, then the valve springs really gave up & I couldn't hit 6!). I covered everything with a shop towel, left individual tips poking through, dressed them with an angle grinder and ran lash caps. They were fine thereafter for many years until the heads came off for a rebuild. Ran lash caps since as I don't think the tips were hardened very well.

Excellent example of valvetrain control damage.  It's like beating on the valves with sixteen little hammers....

[Tunnelwedge]

So my plan now is to detune it some more.
I have 282s from 2010 in a box and some pretty nice stock type rockers with upgraded adjusters, shafts and end stands.
All the roller crap is coming out and going to slider and use a lash cap.
How I drive the rig it will probably be much better in traffic.
How much spring for a 282s?