I was wondering if the rest of the valve train components will work with ta rollers. Stock pushrods work or do you need adjustables? What ratio? 1.6's or 1.65's? Will stock valve covers work? Want to cross all my T's and dot all the i's before I consider spending this kind of money. Thanks.
David, Stock valve covers will hit unless you double up the gaskets. TA also sells spacers for the valvecover. You can use adjustable pushrods with roller rockers. Can you use your existing pushrods? Depends. If your pushrods are too long due to decking of the block or milling of the heads, the roller rockers may not have enough adjustability. Again 1.60 or 1.65 ratio, depends on how much piston to valve clearance you have. With stock deck height, you should be able to use the 1.65
You will also need to grind on both sides of the rocker pedastals to provide enough clearance for the rockers. This is best done before the heads are assembled, LOTSA iron flying around, this is why you'll need to decide if you want rollers before you finall assemble the motor. I recommend AGAINST adjustable pushrods with the roller rockers, not only are they redundant, but you CANNOT install them with the adjuster at the top, the adjusting nuts WILL bind on the underside of the rockers and gouge the sh17 out of the rocker bodies, I found this out the hard way And if your going to have to install them upside down, then the convienience of adjusting them is out the door, you'll have to remove the rockers to do it. Buy or borrow a pushrod length checker, mock everything up and find out the best length for proper lifter preload, while still maintaining 1 to 2 threads exposed on the adjuster when lookin from the underside of the rocker body. Next you'll want to check is how the roller travels over the valve tip (geometry) you should be ok, but if the valves are sitting deeper in the heads (higher valve stem height) or shallower (lower stem height) On Buicks, the geometry is fixed because of the shaft style rockers, but if it does need to be adjusted, you can get washers of varying thicknesses and use then under the shafts to make minor adjustments. Sorry for the long post, but unfortunatley the roller rockers are not a bolt up and go deal, but they are worth it in the long run, at least I think so. :beer Mark
does anyone have picture of what they look like? cause i think i might have some type of aftermarket rocker of some heads. i know they r not like the stock on my 72 350. thanks
My heads were milled .010 when I had them redone. I also made some mistakes when I ported them. The valve seats had to be taken down a little, about .050 the best the shop could measure, because I didn't put a old valve in while polishing the combustion chamber. I don't think I did that much damage because I did not have to shim the rocker assembly. I did not have the block decked when I did the rebuild. Do you think all this will effect anything? I'm also using my stock pushrods. 1972 350
Being that the valves had to be sunk an additional .050 in the heads, your adding an additional .050 preload on the lifters, plus another .010 from the head milling, so thats .060 preload without factoring in what the stock preload was. Have the machine shop check what the stock height was (I think between 1.72 and 1.78) and see if they can cut the stems to near the stock height without weakening the stem to the point the locks pop off:eek2: Try and get that done so that all your valves are as close to equal height as possible, THEN, once your back to good, we can take it from there:Brow: Mark
Hey David! Yes .050 shims under stock, or roller rocker shafts will do the same thing, BUT, doing that will change your rocker geometry, which you still may need to do, whether you go roller or stay stock. Either you or somebody that has a height mic. can check your installed height, and compare it with factory specs to see were you stand. Its my personal recomendation, from prior experience that if you decide to keep your stock rockers, using adjustable pushrods is fine, that way you get adjustability for preload on the lifters, and doing it this way is MUCH more economical than going the roller route. The advantages of rollers are strength, less friction, accuracy of ratio, and adjustability, BUT, they're expensive, and require mods to install. Buicks choice of the shaft rockers are sweet, and strong, but the lack of adjustability kinda hampers things when you stray from stock specs as far as valve installed height and head and block milling, but, that is what the Buick vendors are for :grin: Mark
Well, you've given me a lot to consider. I appreciate all the replys. Rollers are going to be in my future for sure, but i still need to get the $$$$$$$$$ together. thanks
