Burned valves
jlaw73 said:
When you get on it, it's Nascar-like.
When I went down the straight, into work, once, I got on it, with the truck. 5500RPM in a 5.0L Ford, with straight pipes. A guy at work said it sounded like a fighter plane, from WWII
The only concerns that I know of, regarding engine damage, from exhaust stuff, comes from running without enough distance between your valves and the air. Like when people take off their ex. manifolds and start the engine. It is so loud, they think it would be cool to drive around a little, like that, to see what it sounds like. I heard the problem comes if too much oxygen gets in contact with your extremely hot valves, they can oxidize (burn) and then make very poor contact with their seats. I heard even stainless valves can oxidize, but I don't know what alloy stainless valves are made of so I can't comment on that. Some alloys will rust like you wouldn't believe. Many stainless alloys are magnetic, others cannot ever rust. Again I don't know what alloy SS valves are made of so...
Keep in mind, I have not ever run with super short headers or those stubby little race pipes or without my manifolds on, so have no actual experience.
Also never burned a valve.
-David