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Hi everyone,

I have a friend that has worked at a family-owned spring company for years. Every holiday season we meet and always end up talking about manufacturing and the lack of quality from overseas stuff. I have kept him in mind if I ever happened across an item that I would need to replace/re-manufacture in my restorations(he has other contacts in other manufacturing areas that I can tap also) ...and to make available to others in the hobby. Well this year, he told me that they purchased another small spring shop. ...a shop that manufactures brake springs for one of the large brake vendors and valve springs. That's all that I needed to hear.

So I know that there are vendors out there with valve springs readily available for the old cars. In looking at some of their listings, I can't really see where they are manufactured. So my plan would be to only use U.S. or Canadian wire. To move forward (or even think about moving forward) I would need the specs on the springs used in the various engines across years. ...starting with Packard, of course. Does anyone know where I would find those? ...wire gauge, coil diameter and height? I know that the various manuals list pressures at open/closed heights.

...and I'm not soliciting, I am more than happy to hear opinions and suggestions.

Thanks,

Mark

What specs there are you'd probably find by purchasing from PPG copies of the original factory blue prints, assuming they are in the collection.

All of the valve jobs I've done over many years are on the in-line Packard engines; unless one is broken or obviously bad I don't replace the original valve springs. Though it might be nice to have another source of repro springs, I can't say I have heard of failures of the current repro springs on the market. It would be nice to hear what Ross has to say, he may have more current experience than I do.

I would focus on the specs and the verification that the parts conform to them. That's what determines how well the springs work, not where they are made. Your friend can expand on this, but with this type of item the heat treatments are also important.

Agreed, the older engines used much lower spring seat pressures. So springs generally lasted, longer, if not almost indefinitely.

As for source of materials... ...steel from India is big now. But they have had far too many bad experiences (failures) with it and will not use it. Now granted, it was probably with higher spring pressures items. The Dodge Hemi of '03, '04 had some spring and valve issues. ...don't know what they used and from where, or if the design changed in '05.

I'm just starting to look around and do some research. I will check with the PPG to see what they have available.

As I said I am interested in getting into the manufacturing/supply arena. I also have some contacts in the plastic industry also. ...repro knobs anyone!? I've spent 20 years in front of a computer during the week, and under a hood on the weekends. Wait, will this be any different?

Thanks,

Mark

As I said I am interested in getting into the manufacturing/supply arena

Just staying current with availability of NOS and NORS and parts currently in repro is a significant task. Were I looking into getting into the repro parts business (and I'm not), I'd start by making of list of:

1. Parts not currently in repro where NOS or NORS is drying up, or has already done so,

2. Parts which were in repro years ago but are no longer available (and there are many), and

3. Parts where current quality is an issue,

and then studying the demand or market for such parts, the manufacturing complexity, and what kind of pricing the market would support for such parts.

Perhaps asking the PackardInfo audience to start compiling a list of such candidates would be a good place to start.

That's right Owen. I'm on the same page as you. (in determining what to look into) I was just looking/talking springs (first) as they were the topic of conversation the and kinda "right in my lap".

Mark