Posted by gmharris [72.219.148.98] on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 13:44:55 :
The question occasionally comes up as to whether the FFPW's had hardened valve seat inserts. People come down on both sides of the question: Some saying yes and some saying no.
While looking at the page on differences between the various model years, I found a comment that exhaust valve seat inserts where introduced in 1955.
I've seen no evidence that the intake valves ever had inserts. But, I've not had one of these engines apart. Not that that would prove anything as inserts for the intake seat could have been added by a machine shop.
Still, the list of differences does not say that the original exhaust valve inserts were hardened. In fact, the VPW catalog lists NOS exhaust valve seats that they just call, "cast iron" although they also offer new hardened seats.
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