Calling all oem valve experts!

I have a question about 05 LGT/OBXT OEM exhaust valves. I understand that we have sodium filled valves, which explains why they cost 63$ a piece!

 

 

Now, I have noticed some of these will have an 'ED3' marking on them while others will have an ED4 marking on them without the FHI logo. I weighted these and the ED4 are 3-4 grams heavier. Does it mean that the ED4s are not sodium filled. Does anybody know? I can't confirm this .

 

 

 

 

p.s: asking cause I discovered I have ED3 exhaust valves on the PS side while ED4 on the driver side . And it appears that the ED4s wear out faster. Could be wrong on that one, but that's my gut feeling so far.

Edited March 26, 2020 by xt2005bonbon

Nasioc says the numbers have to do with length of valve which would account for weight differences. Have a hf .1gram scale? or a 4-5" micrometer?

Interesting.. Link to thread? I did a bunch of searches and did not find this info.

Valves are already back on the engine . However, this may be true because all of my ED4 valves require thinner buckets to meet clearance specs, while the ED3 requires thicker buckets. Huh.

Interesting.. Link to thread? I did a bunch of searches and did not find this info.

Valves are already back on the engine . However, this may be true because all of my ED4 valves require thinner buckets to meet clearance specs, while the ED3 requires thicker buckets. Huh.

 

I think you just verified what he said and length.

 

We all know, size matters.

Well well well....

 

 

I sent an email last night to IAG when I created this thread and essentially asked the same question. They just got back to me. According to their head department, he said the ED3s are sodium filled, not the ED4s.

 

 

 

Now, don't know what to do. Freak, 4 brand new sodium filled valves would be like 320$!

 

 

buy a used set of heads. get valves for free

 

ill find links. Some comes from proprietary information so legally can't share.

https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=22881791&postcount=25

this brand new thread looks interesting: https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2918850

 

Have to visit shop today. will find various valves. measure and weigh.

 

Verify:

05-06 used sodium filled valves

07+ do not due a head design change (v27b)

08+ do not due to a head design change (replaced v27b)

 

Verify:

ED & ID numbers are for sorting which valves match which valve seats at factory build time

Edited March 27, 2020 by boxkita
found link

Don't you have a spare ED4 valve laying around in your large set of parts? Willing to cut it in half?

 

 

Talking about ID valves... After my heads were cleaned up,etc, the machine shop told me that I did have to replace one intake valve. So I went online, bought an OEM one (without knowing you have the choice between 2 different p/n). When I received it, it was an ID3! All of my valves are ID1. After digging through the Googles, it appears that the ID3s are sodium filled (price reflects that), which were used prior to our MY.. I also weighted them: ID1 are heavier than ID3 (about 3-4g). Same diff I found between ED3 and ED4 (latter are heavier).

 

So now, I have an ID3 and 7 ID1 on these heads .

 

 

Regarding getting another set of heads, man, I don't want to buy more stuff. I have spent enough so far. Just had to buy two new cams cause I found out that my PS cams are solid, while the DS cams are hollow...

That's what happens when you buy a salvage title car as a student (back in 09).

 

 

 

Thanks for doing the further checking. Looking forward to seeing what you find.

avcs needs hollow cams. so intake are hollow. exhaust are not. Unless you have dual avcs or nsfw's custom mod/tune.

 

sodium filled will be lighter because hollow?

 

Cutting in half isn't going to happen. The sodium valves are considered hazmat and requires special handling for disposal.

I know, but ED4s are supposedly not sodium filled right? .

 

 

I don't think that's correct regarding where hollow and solid cams go. I have B25 heads just like all 05 GTs/OBXTs (as far as I know). So I have single (intake) AVCS. And both of my cams on the PS side are solid. Or at least, the end is solid (see pic). Whereas both of my cams on the DS are hollow! This is the head that has ED4 valves in it. I believe this head was changed when the car was in an accident before I got it.

Any new cams you purchase for B25 heads would be hollow. So I bought two of these to replace my PS ones.

 

 

 

 

Here are mine right now:

 

 

 

 

both heads should have been like this:

Edited March 27, 2020 by xt2005bonbon

hmm. i have 2 sets of cams . didn't really mark them.

i only have one set of v25b heads and its assembled. The other two are based on what appears to be oem builds.

05-06 heads: b25 have solid camshafts with welded on hollow sections for avcs. intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is ed3.

07 heads : v25b have solid camshafts with welded on hollow sections for avcs. intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is ed4.

08-09 heads : d25 have hollow camshafts . intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is ed4.

 

id1 valves weigh approximately 50.2g sd .1g, length 104.21mm - 104.41mm

id2-T valves weigh approximately 50.50 sd +.2g, length 103.52mm

 

ed3 valves weigh approximately 46.50g - 46.87g, length 104.51mm - 104.81

ed4 valves weigh approximately idk. in a built head

Edited April 6, 2020 by boxkita
fixed typo

shining a flashlight in the hollow camshafts on the d25 heads, its not hollow all the way. There's still a welded on section like b25 camshafts. That's for the avcs. Perhaps the the rest being lighter is reduced weight? You know higher rpm?

I know, but ED4s are supposedly not sodium filled right? .

 

 

I don't think that's correct regarding where hollow and solid cams go. I have B25 heads just like all 05 GTs/OBXTs (as far as I know). So I have single (intake) AVCS. And both of my cams on the PS side are solid. Or at least, the end is solid (see pic). Whereas both of my cams on the DS are hollow! This is the head that has ED4 valves in it. I believe this head was changed when the car was in an accident before I got it.PS

 

based on the accident and head got rebuilt notation, im going with the rebuilder messed up. Should have used the solid cams and ed3 valves.

 

So now you have lighter weight camshafts and different valves. Unless you are going to become a track rat, I wouldn't expend much anxiety on it. Even then the sodium valve concept was dropped in favor of a head change for better cooling so you don't need F1 caliber valves.

 

not an expert. just play one on the interwebs.

Edited March 28, 2020 by boxkita
add caveats

i only have one set of v25b heads and its assembled. The other two are based on what appears to be oem builds.

05-06 heads: b25 have solid camshafts with welded on hollow sections for avcs. intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is ed3.

07 heads : v25b have solid camshafts with welded on hollow sections for avcs. intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is ed4.

08-09 heads : d25 have hollow camshafts . intake valve is id1, exhaust valve is id4. I think those are EDE instead. Hard to see but you may able to see these from here and here.

 

id1 valves weigh approximately 50.2g sd .1g, length 104.21mm - 104.41mm

id2-T valves weigh approximately 50.50 sd +.2g, length 103.52mm

 

 

ex3 valves weigh approximately 46.50g - 46.87g, length 104.51mm - 104.81 You mean ED3

ex4 valves weigh approximately idk. in a built head You mean ED4. I weighted them and they are about 50g. So, as IAG said, probably not sodium filled valves.

 

 

 

Never took the time to reply to this. See my comments above in bold/black font.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

based on the accident and head got rebuilt notation, im going with the rebuilder messed up. Should have used the solid cams and ed3 valves.

 

So now you have lighter weight camshafts and different valves. Unless you are going to become a track rat, I wouldn't expend much anxiety on it. Even then the sodium valve concept was dropped in favor of a head change for better cooling so you don't need F1 caliber valves.

 

not an expert. just play one on the interwebs.

 

 

 

 

I basically decided to purchase two new hollow cams and removed the solid cams I had. So, now I have all matching cams but still ED4 on one head and ED3 on the other. I weighted the cams too. Not that much different really. I'll post the pics later.

fixed my post to have the right id/ed values. The head parts storage box uses a different nomenclature which got translated poorly.

Saw your fixes. I believe D25 heads have EDE markings instead of ED4 (no idea the diff between the two though). You can see the pics I posted above from barmanbean. According to that thread, the p/n for these valves is 13202aa660. Here, they show a pic of it: https://burjauto.ae/buy/13202aa660

And here, they show it is for 2008/09 obxt/lgt.

 

Thoughts?

I checked 4 engines worth of valves. Ed3 & ed4 is all I have. One set of d25 heads and 3 sets of b25 heads. Ill see if I can find the valves from my rebuild.

Crap, I should have asked you for some ED3s then. Too late now, heads are on the block.

I wouldn't sweat it. No one sells the sodium valves except subaru. Every replacement option uses a solid valve.

Yeah. I just wonder why my ED4 exhaust valves showed more signs of wear (additional decreased clearance over X amount of miles driven) vs. the ED3 on the passenger side. The driver side also runs a bit hotter EGTs than the passenger side, so that does not help.

higher driver side egt is common. Isn't that a known fact?

 

When I had the v25b heads built, i spec'ed titanium & inconel valves to handle the heat. Inconel is used in F1 for exhaust parts, so figured they had moved on from the sodium valves.

 

Sorry not much you can do now that's it back together. Check compression pressure more often? Or just drive until fail? Maybe it lasts another 100k? If you thrash it, getting 30k is probably good

Engine is still on the stand, but I will still run these as is. I mean, they've been through the machine shop, valves and valve seats cleaned up, etc...

IIRC, I adjusted the clearance @ 0.37mm for the exhaust valves @75K miles. @ 125K miles, clearance went down to .28,.29,.33,.33mm (cyl #2 to 4). Lost almost 0.1 mm in 50K (for the tightest valve in #2). Car is stage 2+ (JMP vf52). And I don't mind pushing it at all . As you know, I will add the coolant mod for the driver side head. So we shall see how it goes.

 

 

I should add that I readjusted the clearances for all exhaust valves to 0.38mm.

Edited April 6, 2020 by xt2005bonbon