The evolution of Rover heads and valve guides.

The original V8 production engines where produced in the good old days of leaded petrol that could in itself lubricate the inlet valve guides. Thus the original design of the Rover V8 engine had valve stem seals (flat black rubber discs) just on the intake valves as these guides gained lubrication from the petrol.

The exhaust guides however, relied upon an amount of your engines oil running down them to provide the required lubrication. Therefore no seals, even off this simple design were fitted to the exhaust valve stems. The upgrade to neoprene fully enclosed seals on all 16 valve guides is now standard and the valve guides themselves (the later types) now need no lubrication as they are of a pre-impregnated oil design.

Valves and other essential engine components can be found in our Engines and Components section of our eBay shop.