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"Yes, I will follow some guidelines given here and move up the LBS scale on the valve springs.
What other means, besides going to Ti valves, can be done to make the valvtrain even more reliable?"
Besides going to titanium valves, just try to make the rest of the valvetrain as light as possible. Also, a shaft mounted rocker arm setup isn't a bad idea as rocker studs/cheap rocker arms/etc will deflect at high rpms/stiff spring pressures.
"- If valves, retainers and locks are changed from steel to Ti; by how much can the sping LBS rating be lowered (everything else kept equal)?
- If locks & retainers are changed only, is there any reason to go down on spring rating? (I have not looked on the numbers, but it will be , I think, a net loss of 15 grams on each valve?)"
I don't have a good answer for that. I do know that titanium retainers (with the same valves, same springs/etc) are good for about a 200-300 rpm increase.
In your case, I would increase spring pressures, and add the lightweight valvetrain components. Just changing to titanium locks and retainers still wouldn't give me a fuzzy feeling with your setup.
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