Does anyone know where I could track down a set of valves for a 1930 S30 OHV engine?
Or alternatively has anyone come up with an alternative ?
I will need to replace my valve guides as they are very much worn and I was thinking of getting valve inserts fitted so if the diameter etc alters that's OK , it's more the overall length that will come into play
I have been doing some hunting around and anything I find in relation to this topic goes back a few years so was hoping there may be an update on the topic that someone might want to share
Cheers

Have you checked out Peter Long at Cornucopia. https://www.cornucopia-enterprises.de/spares-bsa_pre.html

Ron

I have fitted 1948-84 Harley Panhead/ Shovelhead valves into both my Slopers and have covered over 3000 miles on them without any problems.

In terms of dimensions they are practically identical being just 1mm shorter. I've used lash caps to keep the rocker angle the same. The main difference is that they are heavier because they are sidevalve items, using a wide face to help dissipate heat - also they are not tulip valves.

The collet grove may need to be machined very slightly to accept the Sloper collets that are slightly longer ( about 10-20 thou). The valves are nitrided to prevent galling which is ideal for bike with minimal upper engine lubrication.

I bought mine 4 years ago and they were very cheap - £11.35 for a pair.

The valve guides are also an excellent alternative. Their length into head is identical, but slightly shorter above the head. Also they don't have the step onto which the inner valve spring sits - however if you're fussy about this then you could make a bottom collar which replicates this feature.

If you're stuck for Valve Springs then BSA Super Rocket items are a good alternative - same dimensions and number of coils. The only difference is that the wire gauge is probably slightly narrower - but I've seen a number of Sloper Heads fitted with Valve Springs with the same gauge.

Well now, I got my valves from 'gsvalves.co.uk'.
Rather expensive, but I find everything is these days.
I have a feeling that you might find some in Australia, like you did with the piston.
Cox & Turner can make you some, but, again frightfully expensive.
Unfortunately, neither of these Companies are in Australia.

I've attached some photos of the Harley Valves and guides compared to the Sloper parts.

As can be seen the Harley Valves are quite chunky, however they are not too bad to machine as none of the important bits need to be touched. A recess can be cut into the head of the valve and the seat face can be reduced - just use some engineers blue to ensure that you don't touch the bit that makes contact with the actual seat. They will work fine in the Sloper without any alterations though.

With respect to the guides then you may need to remove a small amount of metal to accommodate the inner springs.

I've also included a comparison of the Super Rocket Valve springs - the Super Rocket inner spring is a bit wider.

The Valves can be purchased from American Legends :

https://www.legendmcs.com/mid-usa-harley-parts-engines-parts/engine-motor-parts-valves-springs.html

I fitted part number 18086-80 - unfortunately they've gone up to $26 each, but there are some at $9.80 which will probably also work-  hell there is a cost of living crisis after all.


 

chapmast you are a living legend ....thank you for sharing all this information...
As you say things go up, so it is what it is ......
I have spoken to the Machine shop that are going to bore the cylinder for me, they can fit valve seat inserts so I will get the valves and guides sorted before I send it down.
I will hunt down some springs, I have seen them advertised so that won't be hard ..
We have a guy over East that is selling several sets of valves that he purchased from a factory closure sale, there are many different old bikes AJ's Matchies etc and he has some valves he is advertising as 600 sloper valves , I am going to check the sizes of these as well. Never Know !!!!
Thanks again 

The 600cc Sloper Valves will almost certainly be SV items which I doubt will be suitable as the head of the valve will most likely be smaller. They'll also probably be longer, but this isn't so much of a problem. There is a relatively rare 600cc OHV model but this has a very different top end.

The other valves may be OK though. The most important dimension is that of the head and also that the valve isn't too short. If the diameter of the stem is narrower then A10 valve guides may be suitable. If the stem is wider then you could ream out the existing guides. You should also try to ensure that they are exhaust valves which are generally harder and more resistant to heat.

I've attached a couple of photos of a lightened Harley Valve compared to that of a Sloper. The weight of the stock Harley valve is 115g compared to 85g for the Sloper. I managed to reduce the weight down to 97g by cutting a dish and taking some off the back of the head. The Sloper has a very deep dish which tends to fill with carbon, I reckon I could have achieved a much closer match by replicating this, but I felt that the Sloper was a bit extreme.

Personally I wouldn't bother machining the back of the head like I did because your cutting into a concave profile and it's difficult to achieve a nicely blended finish. I doubt if I saved more than 1g.

Cutting the dish isn't too bad, the metal is pretty hard but if you take your time then you can achieve decent results.

When selecting guides, don't be tempted by phosphor bronze - they just don't seem suit BSA's mysterious 'oil vapour' lubrication system. Cast Iron seems to work well where lubrication is intermittent.

On a slightly separate issue the rocker tips will probably badly worn from constantly hitting the valve. You should rebuild these with a hard facing welding rod and then grind them down to a suitable profile - I've attached a photo of finished rocker. Note the horrible crack in the Rocker box mounting lug - if you have anything like this, then get it fixed as it will break. Almost every Sloper Rocker box that I have ever seen has broken lugs - if these need repairing then you should ensure that they are also strengthened.

Received a reply back from the guy with all the valves, can't help so I have found a few sites where I can get Harley valves so I will move in that direction and do a bit of machining.
Valve springs I have two sets but what I have noticed is on both heads the inlet and the exhaust have different springs, the wire gauge is different, height etc. is the same, I am assuming that whoever had it made a good head out of a pair at some time ... never mind I will clean these up and see what I can salvage.
Valve guides, thanks for the tip, I was going to machine down some Norton ones to suit as I have done on a few other projects, but they are bronze so that's no good so I will hunt down some cast ones
I only have one set of rocker arms, and they again are different in appearance so obviously swapped out sometime over the years. The exhaust side is running short rollers and the inlet running longer ones, the exhaust side shaft is badly hammered from the rollers so might try and track one of these down. Have you or have you heard of a small, caged needle roller bearing that may fit even if the shaft has to be machined down to suit, short of that I was thinking maybe some Bronze bushes with an oil galley way cut into the ID but then what you said about bronze valve guides needing better lube shy's me away a bit from that idea.
I had already built up my rocker arm faces with hard facing and dressed them back a bit, once I get the valves etc refitted I will grind them, and finish dress the faces.
Rocker box shows no sign of cracks, but it has been welded in a few places over the years, not pretty but nothing a linisher and vapor blast won't fix....
Getting there !

With regard to the Valve guides you should use the Harley ones, they're excellent. The same place that supply the valves should be able to provide them.

With respect to the springs then I have around 5 heads and the springs are all slightly different. It's hard to tell what is correct, especially after 90 years of corrosion and multiple owners. When I pulled my first Sloper apart it's Crankcase bearings were all ball races. They were all obviously pre-war items, so were they fitted by the factory or a later owner.

I would not use a bronze bush for the rocker. A plain bearing generally requires a film of oil- there shouldn't be any metal to metal contact. Hence they require a good oil supply which you will not get on the Sloper.

As far as bearings are concerned then most bearing web sites allow dimension searches to be performed - I use 'simplybearings.co.uk', but you should be able to find something similar in Australia.

Has the Rocker itself been modified - they should run a double set of 3/16 x 5/16 rollers. I don't think that there is a good reason to move away from this sort of setup - they normally work really well, this is the first one that I've heard of that is badly worn. One possibility would be to machine down the worn part of the shaft and fit a sleeve.

Attached are pics of the shaft and rockers
Note the part number on the rockers,
24-540 stamped on Rocker with the shorter Roller bearings but parts book indicates it should be 24-541
24-636 is a correct part and has the 5/16 long Rollers .
I searched 1929 rockers, but that is also 24-541 so who knows where this came from.
Note damage to roller shaft as previously discussed, I will continue my search for a suitable replacement I think

I spoke to Mark Quinney today, who also has a Sloper and he told me that he also has a rocker with the 3/16 x 3/16 rollers. In my parts book 24-540 was fitted to 1927 4.93 OHV so it looks like you have one of these. The 24-536 rocker was fitted from 1929.

With regard to the shaft then I imagine a previous owner has neglected to grease the rockers and the rollers have stopped spinning. Locating another shaft will be difficult, I don't think I've ever seen one come up on Ebay as an individual item and you may need to buy an entire rocker box- but these are also pretty elusive. It may be worth speaking to the engineer who is doing your rebore to see if he has any suggestions. As said previously, I think I would make a sleeve as a temporary measure and hope to locate a replacement at some point in the future.

I have decided to delete the roller bearings that were fitted and head with bushing out the rocker arms, one of our club members has done it with his and it is working well, this will give me a bit of space to hunt down some replacement shafts and a later exhaust rocker arm. I machined these up today, just need to cut an oil gallery through them for lubrication and then parallel ream them.
Heading down to the City in December and I want to call into a shop up in the hills there that has so many old bikes and tons of used parts, hopefully I will be able to find most that is on my list.