No Bronze Guides, Any Reason?

Krooser said

I know it's hard to believe but there was a time when fancy bronze guides were not even invented. Yet we still raced. Huh... how could that be?

I've had one set on J heads done with bronze guides. Every other engine has had factory iron guides... street or race.

Bronze work good to keep the valves from sticking to the iron when they get hot. One of my engine guys doesn't use umbrella seals on the exhaust... maybe an old school Chevy stem seal. Or none at all without any issues on race motors.

My W2 heads were done in '93 with iron guides. I'll stick with them until I get them redone next time...then I may make a change. May is the key word. I'll likely remove the exhaust seals, too.

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The exhaust valves on early and GEN II Hemis point DOWN, so there's zero need for exhaust seals on the stems. Oil doesn't run uphill. lol LOTS of older engines never came with seals on the exhaust valves. They're really unneeded. It's not like the exhaust is going to blow up into the guide since it takes the path of least resistance when the exhaust valve is open. Likewise, it's not going to suck oil into the cylinder on the intake stroke, since once again, the air fuel mixture takes the path of least resistance into the open intake valve. Plus, any oil that happens to splash onto the exhaust valve stems only serves to lubricate and cool the much hotter exhaust valve anyway so it's a win win.