Where to buy springs and keepers for ZE head?

[cout]

As predicted, we did drop a valve in the last LeMons race. We broke multiple parts on the head -- I think four HLA's and two camshaft caps. The HLA's were on the intake side of cylinders 4 and 6.

(Forgive me for a moment, because I'm looking at the diagram in the workshop manual and trying to make sure I'm referring to the right part, because this is my first time working inside a cylinder head -- is the HLA the part that sits on the spring and touches the cam?)

From what I gather, we want to go to stiffer valve springs so we can safely rev the engine. The judges gave us a residual value of $320, which means we have $180 to play with. So Interprep and Ferrera are out. Paeco wants $4/ea for "inner" springs and $8/ea for "outer" springs (does "inner" mean intake?), which means $144 for a set, plus whatever the cost is for the keepers.

I've read that the DE springs work, but where do I get DE springs for cheap? I'm not sure whether I can buy just the springs out of the junkyard; a set of DE heads is $130 without the cams, which isn't much cheaper and the springs would then be used.

Any other ideas?

In the junkyard we did find a Millenia with the ZE-style (square port) heads and KL01 cams. Does this head have the same weak springs as the KLZE? (if it had the right springs it would save us the trouble of having to rebuild the heads we have).

[marcdh]

Given your budget I'd just go for a set of DE springs/retainers/collets. They're stronger than the ZEs intake springs as rated in the valve/spring tech threads in the v6 FAQ, and the retainers are stronger. The ZE exhaust springs etc are the same as the DE, so you only need to replace the ZE intake side with DE. There's usually good deals on probetalk for this kinda stuff. I wouldn't get too hung up on not being new, the fatigue is unlikely to compare to the inferior design of the ZE retainers and lower pressure springs. At the same time, younger is of course preferential. Be sure to get matching springs/retainers/collets, IIRC I read of variances even between DEs of the collet shape.

[cout]

Keeping an eye out on probetalk sounds like a good idea. More than a few DE's there, I'd imagine.

When I click on their "for sale" forum, though, it says I need 25 posts in order to access it. Since I don't own a probe, I've never posted there.