Need your Opinion please on Rocker Arm Assemblies

[SanDiego70RTSE]

Who makes the best rocker arm assemblies for the 440 engine: Comp Cams, T&D machine products, Crane, or

Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mat

[68ChargerJMP]

Ive read alot of good about comp cams' steel magnum rockers.

[cudaken]

 SanDiego70RTSE, why do you want them? Free 5 HP but for a driver can be a pain in the a-s. Saw what DFS went thought with is Huges rockers. Getting the spacing right was a big bite.

If you are going with a fast ramp rate and high lift then there is a reason.

                       Cuda Ken

[golden73]

I have heard great things about Harland Sharp. Full roller fulcrum is the way to go. That is what I will be running on my engine

http://store.yahoo.com/chucker54/harlandsharp1.html

[Chryco Psycho]

The Comp Steel [investment cast stainless] are probably the best
I use a lot of the iron Crane rockers for street use , strong & durable btu do not have the roller tip
I don`t like Harland because of the needle brgs , this reduces the surface area on the rocker shaft to virtually nothing which has to increase the wear on even a hardened rocker shaft & being alum they will eventually fail , it is bad enough to have to change a single rocker arm but the added agrivation of having to remove needle brgs scattered inside the engine ... you get the picture 

[firefighter3931]

It depends on the application. The crane iron are sufficient for most street/strip applications unless you are running a cam with lifts exceeding .600 or so. Roller cams with big spring pressures need a higher quality rocker assembly. My preference is for harland sharp and run those in my own engine and will in the future. These are very beefy rocker arms, much stronger than a conventional aluminum roller rocker. Put it next to a crane gold and you'll see what i mean. Jesel and T&D are pretty much at the top of the rocker arm food chain with Harland Sharp in the middle fallowed by all the others.     

Ron

[cudaken]

 Neil, Ron on a more than less stock BB what are roller rockers worth over MP Stamped HP rockers. As you may know I had a set of CAT roller rockers, then Neil started to scare me off with the needel bearings in the 440 then Brain Shagnasty sealed there faith when is looked and bent push rods and eye browed pistons with the valves. Never made it on my Charger and like at this point would have hurt.

I know stock stamps where sloppy and looking threw 30 or so to find 16 good ones. 2 questions.

Are MP HP rockers just stronger or little closer to the 1.5 to what they should be.

HP gain over stock stamps if the ratio is the same?

I know why they are better as fas as valve ware on the stems and stuff. Just looking for bottom line HP. I posted 5 HP, but ment 15 HP.

                                        Ken

[Runner]

while ive never done any tests, ive read plenty that they werent worth any et at all, ive even read that people have done the swap at the track and didnt gain anything as long as the ratios were the same (1.5) this is why i went to the iron rockers for my junk. 

[Chryco Psycho]

I have never done a back to back dyno test with just swapping the rockers & it would depend on the heads & cam , if the heads are stalled & more lift will not increase flow expect no gain But if more lift helps the gain with proper ratio rockers has to be there

[firefighter3931]

On the right combo a higher ratio rocker is worth some power. If the heads move enough air then the added lift will show some power increases. The additional benefit is that the valve action is faster so the valve opens sooner and stays open longer allowing for added cylinder filling...resulting in more power.

A milder cam with good heads will benefit from the added lift and increased valvespeed. I have seen the dyno results to back this up, not a direct rocker to rocker test but close enough to be a legitimate comparison. Two identical engines on the same dyno. Same heads, same compression, headers. The only difference was the cam and rocker arm ratios. The first motor had a 1.6 Crane rollers with an off the shelf Comp Magnum series (294 S) solid. The second had 1.5 Harland Sharp rollers and a bigger custom Comp grind. Both made the same power #'s and were almost identical at 535hp/540 tq. The peak power #'s came in almost at the same engine speed as well.

So, if you had descent heads that weren't being used to their potential, there is a definate improvement available with a rocker arm ratio swap.

Ron

[Runner]

as i understood kens question it was a non roller rocker vs. a roller tip rocker with the same ratio.

[firefighter3931]

as i understood kens question it was a non roller rocker vs. a roller tip rocker with the same ratio.

Yep, i see that now...thanks for pointing that out Mike. I'm thinking the same response would apply if comparing the stamped rocker to a true 1.5:1 adjustable. As you guys know, most of those stamped rockers really measure closer to 1.4:1 than the advertised 1.5

As for going from a roller tip from a ductile iron : there's probably nothing to be gained. Most that i'm aware of that made this switch showed no ET improvement. The rollers are nice for big lift mechanical and roller cams where the limits of the ductile rocker arm will be exceeded. 

Ron

[cudaken]

I know stock stamps where sloppy and looking threw 30 or so to find 16 good ones. 2 questions.

Are MP HP rockers just stronger or little closer to the 1.5 to what they should be.

Thanks Runner, some time Ron and Neil miss the real question. Not often but sometimes.

Anyone one want to answer the other part?


                                            Ken

[Chryco Psycho]

I dunno
seriously , I have never tried to measure the HD stamped rocker to see if it is more accurate