[Guy Hiltz]

Whats the difference between different angle valve retainers? I know that most OEM engines come with 7 degree,but I see that a large number of aftermarket heads come with 10 degree retainers.If what I read in a Crane Cams newsletter a while back is correct,they are saying that the 7 deg retainers hold much better than the 10 deg ones,if this is true,why use 10 degree retainers at all ?Am I missing something here ? Could someone here please enlighten me ? I would think that if the aftermarket is using the 10 deg retainers on their top end products,they should be a whole lot better than stock!

[Guy Hiltz]

How about it,does anyone here have any comments on this subject?

[1969NovaSS]

I am no expert but I have heard that the 7 degree wil pull through retainer on radical cams. Thats why they use the 10 degree.

[lust4speed]

Probably totally a matter of strength. The 7 degree has more clamping force, but when you get into the really high valve spring pressures it creates too much side force on the retainer. The 10 degree with high spring pressures has as much locking force as the 7 degree at moderate spring pressure. So I would suspect that continuing what Comp says, that the 10 degree retainer angle might not have enough clamping force on light or moderate spring pressures and might cause problems on a stock or near stock engine.