Guide-Liners
|
A Useful
Solution to Reconditioning Valve Guides and Race
Preparation |
Interrupted Spiral
Guide-Liners
|
K-Line introduced
Bronze Guide-Liners to the market over 20 years ago and is the
leader in bringing thin wall bronze liner technology to today's ever
changing market. Focusing on quality, efficiency of installation and
most of all durability, they have been working for over 25 years to
bring the most advanced technology to the demanding users through
their patented Guide-Liner system.
With in house R & D
and dynamometer facilities, K-Line has shown a great deal of
commitment to designing and testing its product to meet the ever
changing needs of the engine rebuilding market. Their certified
manufacturing processes guarantee that you receive K-Line quality
for each and every application.
K-Liners were originally
popularised by those in the trucking industries, where utter
dependability and high mileages are their bread and butter. Big rigs
can be demanded to run for 250,000 miles and more, time off the road
is an expense that the owners cannot afford.
|

|
The Cylinder Head Shop was one
of the first engineers to use these for classic and racing engines. For
many years, smoothbore liners were used by a few specialist race tuning
shops in America and we used these until K-Liners brought out their
remarkable interrupted scrolled liners.
Their Guide-Liners are made of
spring tempered phosphor bronze, which is an anti-seizing, anti-wear, high
strength-to-weight ratio material. It is more dense than cast iron, has a
higher rate of thermal conductivity, a lower coefficient of friction and
insures higher lubrication retention due to the interrupted spiral feature
of the product engraved on to the inside of the liner.
| Utilising a patented
geometric inner design, lubrication can now be held in the guide,
enhancing wear characteristics and reducing the possibility of
excessive oil pass through. This patented design feature provides
superior installation and fitting characteristics.
There is no better
system to combine efficiency and durability than the K-Line Bronze
Bullet Interrupted Spiral Bronze Guide-Liner System. Combining the
durability benefits of phosphor bronze with the efficiency of thin
wall installation, K-Line has made valve guide repair a very simple
and adaptable operation but does require specialist tooling beyond
the budget of repair shops. For kits and training, please contact The Cylinder Head
Shop. |

|
Continued advancements in the
tooling and installation process means that we can produce premium quality
valve guide repairs, and upgrades, in the most efficient
manner.
|
Since the early 1970's
K-Line has run numerous dynamometer tests in conjunction with major
production engine builders and O.E.M.'s. Repeatedly the Guide-Liners
and has out performed cast iron guides and has become the approved
method for rebuilding. In fact, these tests have found the
Guide-Liners to be up to three times more durable than cast iron.
Further more, the minimisation of both guide lubrication and guide
to stem clearances have failed to induce either a seizure or cause
metal transfer.
Ford, G.M., Caterpillar,
Cummins, White Engines, Detroit Diesel-Allison and others have
tested the product and confirmed K-Line's Guide-Liner system as an
approved product for use in rebuilding their
engines. |
Fitting and
Fettling Liner Shown in
Red
|
Our best result was with
one customer who, after 50,000 on his BSA A10, still had 2 and a half thou
or less clearances valve to guide. Less than they would have been when
they left the factory. Standard replacement such as those Norman Hyde
sells, guides run at clearances of 2 to 3 thou. Same as the the tolerances
on the new 1999 model Harley-Davidsons and others. The standards of early
original factory parts can sometimes even be as bad as the parts they are
replacing, so it is worth checking that your parts supplier knows what
they are selling you.
Closer
Tolerances Valve to Guide Offer a Number of Benefits to the
Owners of Classic, Vintage, High Mileage or Racing
Vehicles
- As the rocker action
on the tip of the valve places lateral forces against the guide
and wears it into an oval, it also forces the head, or rim, of the
valve to cut into the newly cut cylinder head seats. Reducing
tolerances minimises this making for a longest lasting
head,
- They also allows for
a greater transfer of heat from the valve to guide and away into
the head and stops oil and air being sucked down the side of the
guide. With unleaded petrol running at far higher temperatures, in
hot climates or in racing conditions, this is good
news,
- Improved fuel economy
and cooler running,
- Quieter running,
increased responsiveness, some racers claim that their engines now
tick over for the first time. Greater vacuum created in the inlet
port in engines improves all round general performance to the
point of requiring re-calibration of the
carburettors.
Anyone and
Everyone can Benefit from
K-Liners. |
At low to mid range cam
lift there is a huge vacuum in the inlet port as the engine tries to pull
the volume of mixture in the inlet port through a tiny gap between valve
and seat, a flow that is improved by a 3 or 5 angle cut. On high revving
modern engines, 10,000rpm or more, this is also true of the exhaust port
where exhaust gases are escaping along the pipe draw by the gases of the
last stroke.
The engine under these
circumstances is trying to draw air from any available source, including
down the side of guide with its inevitable oil mist included. Narrowing
the gap reduces this and requires the engine to take gases from where it
should be taking them; through the carburettor or out of the
chamber.
To avoid petrol wash, where
too much petrol is drawn through the engine washing away all the lubricant
and causing premature wear, it is necessary to lean out the mixture by
always reducing the slide size and sometimes the needle jet.
|
With K-Line
Guide-Liners fitted, matched to quality new or refaced valves and
freshly cut seats, we guarantee owners to return 2 to 3 times the
mileage one would expect. One racing head we set up, a championship
leader, did 3 seasons without need a head job and still was still in
better shape that it would have been straight from the factory at
the end of it season. Nothing more than a light lapping with Solvol
Autosol was necessary to send it out for its fourth year
racing.
More recent tests have
shown that K-Line's Bronze-Bullet Interrupted Spiral phosphor-bronze
Guide-Liners exhibited 41% less wear than smooth wall liners, as
used by other tuning shops, under harsh durability testing
environments even at similar tolerances. K-Line manufacture and
stock the only complete selection of Guide-Liners and Guide-Liner
installation tooling in the World.
Due to our many years of
successful adoption of this technology, any problems in wear
following the fitment of K-Liners or Nucleus Sports Elite Valves can
be traced to the lack of carburettor adjustment. The penultimate
combination would be to have Nucleus Power Guides fitted with K-Line
Guide-Liners. Bespoke fit, incredible heat transfer and many other
individual benefits for differing models. |
 |
- Cast in Guides or
Delicate Vintage Head?
If guide durability is
critical to you, or you own one of many engines than have cast in guides
where it is not possible to replace them, K-liner are also the way to go
for you. Likewise if you have old, rare or delicate heads where one would
wish to avoid knocking out guides from the head
casting.
Knocking out guides cause
erosion in the casting that lead to small oilways being created down
between the guides and the head. To avoid this, and it is good practice,
fit Guide-Liners. As long as your guides are tight in the head, liners can
be fitted. They come in a variety of different sizes.
 |
Phosphor
Bronze Interrupted Spiral Guide-Lining
Features
- Lower co-efficient of
friction,
- High lubrication
retention,
|
- High
strength-to-weight ratio, more dense than cast iron,
- Higher rate of
thermal conductivity,
|
- Precision formed for
a consistent fit,
- Patented spiral
positions the oil where it is needed.
|
The Bronze Bullet Guide-Liner
takes K-Line Guide-Line technology to a new dimension by incorporating the
proven benefits of phosphor bronze. This design feature allows for
efficient installation without requiring any chamfering of the cylinder
head.
K-Line's patented process
allows us to maintain consistent material thickness through the length of
the where it's needed. insert so that at final sizing the bullet
configuration disappears, providing a consistent internal diameter. finish
-throughout the length of the guide.
Look closely at the spiral in
the illustrations. Notice that the spiralled grooves do not align at the
seam. The reason? Lubrication is now suspended in the guide, reducing any
possibility Of excessive oil pass through. Another benefit
is;
|
The Bronze Bullet
Guide-Liners Costs Less Than Fitting New Guides and Can be Replaced
at a Later Date.
DYNAMOMETER TESTS REVEAL:
Interrupted Spiral Guide-Liners Experience
41% Less Wear Than Smooth Wall Bronze
Liners. |
|
Type of Test: 200 hour
durability test. 3% margin of error allowed.
Tests were conducted with
both smooth wall bronze liners and Interrupted Spiral Guide-Liners using
K-Line's standard installation, and finishing
procedures.
A Flex-Hone, was also used
to finish both parts.
|
The Fitment
Process Installation is simplicity itself using special tools and a
power drill or preferably an air line.
- First the worn
guide is bored out using a powered diamond honer aligned by a bush
held in the valve seat.
- Next the new bore
is cleaned out and lubricated before the head is turned over and a
liner is hammered home using the installation driver. Excess liner
material can then be removed with ahand cutter, also part of the
kit
- With the liner
installed, it can now be swaged out to size using either a series
of ball broaches and a hammer or an adjustable roller burnisher
and a power drill.
- The roller
burnisher has a series of needle rollerburnishers near its tip and
can be adjusted in increments of tenths of a thou. This tool is
expensive but far more accurate and less hassle than the simple,
bash-through ball boaches.
- Once the
stem-to-liner clearance is correct, a touch of the topping tool at
each end of the guide finishes the job. When the liners are worn
out, there is a tool for removing them and new ones can be
installed.
- K-Line
Guide-Liners hold infinitely better tolerances than the typical
aftermarket valve guides and should last 50,000 miles before they
need replacing. We can fit them to tolerances of less than .3 of a
thou.
|
 |