There’s no doubt that valve spring manufacturers put a lot of effort into making sure that their products deliver the performance promised, but things happen over time and its a good idea to verify spring rates at each rebuild. Proform Parts has just the tool to make this a no-brainer.

Consistency among all of the springs in a set is just as important as the overall spring rate. A weak valve spring can lead to the valve not closing properly at high revs. When a valve floats like this, the chance of it hitting a piston is increased and that is never good for anybody.

Used with a standard bench vise and a ruler, Proform’s new Digital Mini Valve Spring Tester measures and displays the compression force on the spring with an accuracy of two pounds. It can measure compression forces up to 700 pounds.

Using the gauge is as simple as it putting between the valve spring and one of the jaws on the vise. Tighten the vise until the spring is compressed to the range of interest. Then, just read the compression force from the digital display. Checking all springs in a set will highlight any inconsistencies and let you act before things turn out poorly.

The company also has another version of the tool for checking valve springs while still installed on the cylinder head. It is adjustable for all common rocker lengths. Check out the video below and head on over to the Proform web site for more information.