zeroptzero

A lot of people see Ti retainers as an upgrade to oem retainers. Ti retainers are lighterweight but they tend to have a shorter life, so they are really only good for racing purposes IMO. Someone had the idea that they were doing themselves some good by installing those parts and aftermarket companies push them all the time. This is good evidence of what can go wrong. Maybe the previous owners had ideas of revving the motor higher than stock and someone told them that Ti retainers would help them achieve that. If you go with Ti retainers plan on changing them more frequently. I'm not a metallurgist, but I believe a Ti retainer will be softer than steel oem.

Count your blessings and hopefully you can get the car back on the road with minimal damage and cost.

HondaS

i actually bought retainers when i got my car and when i went to put them in i realized i didnt really hve the tools and didnt want to risk dropping a valve in the cylinder so i ended up selling them on here. they were oem ap2 retainer and keepers paid like 80 and sold them for 60. If i had known they were titanium when i had the valve cover off i would have done them anyways or taken it to a shop..

one of those should have would have could have moments :/

and when i was looking to buy retainers i thought about doing titanium but then someone said they are only good for about 40-50k

OemEF

Keep seeing more and more threads like this... I reallllyyy need to do my AP2 retainer swap...

HondaS

just do it!

HondaS

do i need to take the springs out to get those out?

MR.T

I just hadn't done the upgrade yet, my retainers were fine though. My mech suggested going with something beyond stock, basically "doing it right the first time." And I knew I planned on doing a light build later on down the road.

It was also suggested to me that taking the motor to the rev limit was ok, once the beehive's were installed. I don't use the rev limiter as my shift light, but I do hit it on occasion.

Had I known the life span was so short I don't think I would've done the 500+ dollar upgrade. The car's my DD.

Should I just give them a once over a couple of times a year?? Also kind of scares me when I wonder what happens to all the titanium that wears off??

Sorry for the thread hijack hondaS, hope your motor didn't suffer any further damage.

HondaS

Looking at the way my other ones have worn (not shown in the picture) it looks like someone just ran a file around the circumference a few times and this would be over a long period so I would say the dammage would be almost non existant pretty much in line with any internal metal on metal contact's normal wear and tear. Next time I'm in there ill post a picture of the wear.

As for checking them, it takes me about 20 min to pull the cover seems easy enough to just include it in some of your normal maintenance, maybe every other oil change, that is if u do your own oil changes.

jimi

The AP1 is out of production for now. seems like inexpensive Insurance

wadzii

ti will only do this if its cheap crap that doesnt fit the spring properly.

MR.T

What's up man. Glad to hear you say that. I was about to give you a call, haha. It's arch.