A fuel injection valve and director plate assembly including a circular beveled valve seat, a valve ball for forming a circular sealing line against the seat, and a perforated director plate. The improved valve seat is substantially thicker than a prior art seat to provide greater mass of seat material and hence reduced vulnerability of the seat to thermal distortion from welding. To obviate an increase in residual fuel volume that would result from displacing the director plate from the valve by the added thickness of the seat, the central portion of an improved director plate is made concave such that the actual fuel-directing portion of the director plate is to the valve ball in the prior art relationship, thus preserving the desirably small prior art volume of residual fuel after valve closing.