Another Valve Seal Qeustion

[kyscootertrash]

OK, first the background. 82 1100E with a 1260 kit at about 12 to 1 compression. Head has the APE shortened guides, APE valve seals, and 1mm oversized valves. Stem to guide clearance is .001 intake, and .0015 exhaust. Everything has about 1500 miles on it. I noticed that she was smoking when coasting. The higher the rpm, the worse the smoke. I did a tear down, and found that the valve seals looked like some that were taken out of a 25 year old head, especially the exhaust. Real stiff and brittle. You could even see where oil was coming from the guide and trailing down the port. Has anyone else had a problem like this, or am I just going to have to replace valve seals every 1500 miles?

[Steve]

They shouldn't look like that after only 1500 miles, but can you be sure that they were installed correctly?

There is no need to forcibly drive them into place, they merely snap in with finger or thumb pressure.

.

[Nessism]

Something obviously isn't right. Did you use OE seals or aftermarket?

[kyscootertrash]

Seals

They were pushed in with my thumb, and they were the seals sold by APE.

[jadesystem]

These oil seals snap into the lip of the top exterior of the valve guides.
The spring tension should seal the oil and allow the valves to travel up and down preventing the oil from traveling down the valve into the cylinder.

1500 miles is way too short. I would say at least 20-30k miles or more
before tearing the head down for a valve job and oil seal replacements.
I think it is a rule to just replace the valve oil seals since they are very cheap between head teardowns.

[Suzuki_Don]

Head has the APE shortened guides, APE valve seals, and 1mm oversized valves.

You might need to look at the shortened guides. Anything that is different than STOCK could cause a problem if not done correctly. Is it all cylinders or only one specific one. If only one then check out why. Is that guide different in some way than the others. Did the valve guide seal not fit properly on that cylinder. etc.

[psyguy]

just to throw in another possibility - engine overheating?

[rapidray]

12 to 1 is a bunch of compression for a GS on the street. Also, a 1260 block runs hotter also. How much timing are you running? What cams & how much duration? Shorter duration cams build more heat. Also, are you running an oil cooler? I deem this a REQUIREMENT on any non-stock bore 1100 or 1150. Also, the APE seals are NOT as good as the stock factory seals. Sorry Jay, I have found your seals sufficient for a race motor but not a street motor to go a bunch of miles. Ray.

[progas]

I would also use the stock seals for SURE. You also want to be careful when your installing the keepers, sometimes if you tighten the spring tool too much, it makes contact with the seal.

[kyscootertrash]

Update

OK, cams are WebCams ,257 duration, .348 lift. Yes, I'm running an oil cooler. Oil temp never got above 200 degrees. There was 4 guides leaking oil pretty bad on the exhaust side. I'm trying some different seals, they have a thicker lip at the valve stem, and are a different material. If this does not solve it, I'll replace the guides again to get the clearances down on the exhaust side.