I was told I wouldn't get a season out of them.

Definately not worth it there.How many hours do you boat a year? What oil pan are you running?

A good year, I'll get 60 hours or so, always depends on the weather. I've been running a 12 qt milodon pan. It was the only one I could find that would clear the rear main cap on the Big M block. I was told Dart has modified the cap since I put mine together.

I tried running Del West Titanium valves with their retainers and the good seats in some 14 deg Big Chief heads with 9.8 to 1 compression. Valves in these heads are extremely long. Exhaust valve stuck in a guide and then put a nice hole in the head. Del West looked at the remains and told me I should not be running their titanium exhaust valve in a pleasure use motor especially with a compression ratio as low as mine. Intakes were ok. I pulled the exhaust and went with a different make alloy valve. Things worked fine.

Man that sucks to hear.You switch to Manleys?