Hey guys. I'm slowly moving in to the world of roadracing, and I've just finished my second full season of trackdays on an SV. I'm currently working on buying a 2008 GSX-R600, and I wanted to get some information on their valves from the folks who use them the hardest. I'm intending on using this GSXR both on the street and on the track. It will probably see 6 or 8 trackdays in the (slow) intermediate level this year, in addition to a lot of use on the street. I know that the titanium valves on this thing are regularly replaced by most people who are racing them. When do I need to start worrying about the valves, retainers, etc? I know that 8 days on the track at my level are not the same as running at the front of a WERA grid for a season, but hopefully you all can shed some light on this. Thanks!
cant really answer your question directly, but: i had 20K street miles and 6 track days on my 07 gsxr 600... no valve issues on it at all.
I ve never heard of any valve issues in any of the newer gsxr's. Maybe you're confusing a stock engine with a rebuild race engine?
Ive heard horror stories of the tips poping off at high revs. I know most of the uk engine builders replace them with stainless steel. We replaced our valves in our endurance bike with stainless. I know Army of Darkness had problems with them. In a street bike you shouldnt have any problems. If you race sprints you may not either but I would pullem out of an endurance bike. Just my openion.
If you ride it on the street it will last a longgg time.. If you're spending most of your time in 13-14.5 rpm, you might have problems. And the earlier problems were due to the retainers most likely.
That's good to hear. I imagine mine will be treated similarly; hopefully I can expect no issues. The fact that you've never heard of any issues is just as good to me as another vote of confidence. I've spent a little time looking through the archive of this forum and I've seen the issue pop up a few times, and not necessarily relating to a race engine. I know that the 2008 GSX-R600 uses the same valves and retainers as the 2004+ bikes. This is something I would definitely look in to if I planned on racing it heavily, or if I still have it in 25k miles or so. Would the heavier stainless valves cause problems at high RPMs? Would this necessitate heavier valve springs, etc? Gotcha. Have the retainers been changed since these issues popped up?
Dunno. You can go online and check fairly easily. 04 and 05 have different intakes than 06 07 and 08-09 have different intakes and exhausts than the earlier. But all ti. AFAIK builders who replace Ti with stainless have to go with stronger springs, retainers and collets, and get much more cam journal wear. PS I have two motors in garage where keepers broke and one dropped the valve and destroyed the motor. It happens.. Usually from race revs
We didnt have any problems with the valves but the valve seats were our problems. Burnt up an INTAKE thats right not even the exhaust valve on teh last round. Just shitty metal they use that werent lasting all to well.
I have an 07 GSXR 600, bought new by me. It has only seen track duty, never been on the street. Did a valve inspection at about 10,000 miles and found a retainer that was broken into 3 pieces. Bike was running fine just before we pulled it apart. Dodged a bullet!
For some reason, suzuki molded a nice little circle ring a couple mm deep into the top of the retainer, thus creating a perfect stress fracture line. I've got a couple of those retainers, all broken right on the molded circle line.
Out of curiosity, did your bike have the proper air/fuel ratio? Any ignition advance, or anything like that? Was this a stock engine? That is pretty lucky. What all goes into replacing the retainers after something like this? Is it much more involved than a valve adjustment?
<<For some reason, suzuki molded a nice little circle ring a couple mm deep into the top of the retainer, thus creating a perfect stress fracture line. I've got a couple of those retainers, all broken right on the molded circle line.>> if it's the retainers that break, why do people replace valves ? not that i do, i usually just let nature run its course to really point out the problem. is there a non-oem keeper replacement available ? why bother pulling the head at all, don't people replace keepers with the head in place anymore ?
Yoshimura makes some beautiful retainers and collets. I think they only cost $1200 or so. I don't replace valves unless they are burnt. Don't know why people do. It only takes a couple hours to drop a motor.
If one of these bikes indeed has a burnt valve what is advised? Replace the bad valve only? Complete top end rebuild?
If I was to go that far it would be a rebuild. Pay now or later. Of course there are always that floating bad luck that will hit you now and again though.