6.2 exhaust valves tapered?

[Greg6.2]

My 1986 6.2 exhaust valve stems all have a .001" taper. Smaller dia. towards valve head. It appears that they came that way originally, Do the original GM exhaust valves all come with a .001" taper?

[Greg6.2]

Has anyone also run into this situation of the exhaust valves having a .001" taper?

[mirage]

I haven't pulled mine apart (yet) to know, but that sounds pretty normal for valves. If I'm thinking correctly, they can taper like that because they have the groove in them for the little devices that keep them from falling out, the groove takes it down to that diameter at the top. (I'm drawing a blank on the technical terms here today). I could be wrong on this though :).

[Greg6.2]

The intake valve has a 11/32" stem.
The exhaust valve has a 3/8" stem, for better heat transfer. Also the exhaust valve is cut down to 11/32" at the retainer/keeper area on the tip of the valve, so that it can use the same locks as the intake.

The .001" taper that I was refering to is in the portion of the stem that is 3/8". The bottom of the 3/8" valve stem (area towards the valve head) is .001" smaller than the upper 3/8" portion of the stem. Sometimes this it done to compinsate for the head of the valve being hotter and thereby the lower section of the 3/8" stem would expand slightly and could reduce the valve to guide clearence.

I wqas just wondering if GM did this on all the 6.2's or only some years?