rocker arm clearance

[betts3racing]

I recently purchased a set 230 pro 1 heads with 2.08 valves and the outside diameter of the retainer is 1.550. There is not enough room between the stud anjd the valve spring for my rocker arms to fit. Do i need to purchase jesel style rocker arms for extra clearance?

[lun40119]

There is a thread about this situation when I had a similar problem. Look around you will find it. But the long and short of it is the pushrod length. I had Crane golds and it wasn't even close. I used Comp stainless rockers and 8.100 pushrods with +.100 valves to make mine work. I am happy with what I have, but..........looking back, I think that the shaft setup would have been the better route........and in the long run, CHEAPER. How was the intake runner to pushrod clearance? Did it all fit? Check with Bill, he sees alot of these issues, (No Bill,,,,you can't buy it) ;)

[want-a-be]

What rockers are you running?


Don

WCRE

[betts3racing]

i am using aluminum lunati 1.5 ratio.

[blown71nova]

i also had a issue like this. use a pushrod checker and i think you will find you need longer pushrods . just my 2 cents Bob Sr.

[Awesome Bill]

I believe the o.d. is actually not letting the rocker arm fall down? If this is the problem, you have to radius the rocker a little to give it a little extra room. We use the Harland Sharp, they work well, or I have made a jig up and just use a standard radiused end mill and I just take a little out of the rear of the rockers. After you get the rocker to contact the valve tip, then you set for your push rod length. You will find you need a 8" to 8.3" push rod to get it correct and have the thinest contact pattern. I use the black magic marker. I have been using it for over 10 years, works well. I believe I started that thread also.

[lun40119]

That completely goes against what you said last time. I don't have time right now to look for it, but basically it said.....don't cut rockers!!! Which is it, those SS rockers were spendy.

[lun40119]

[QUOTE]/Awesome Bill
Senior Member Posts: 295
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Ocean City, MD

02-15-2008, 04:38 AM

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Add .030 to .050 to the push rod, do not cut the rocker. .100 is way to wide, should be under .050. Keep adding pushrod until the mark becomes narrower. It will not matter if it is a little off center to the bottom side. Rocker arms hitting the retainer are a sure sign of 2 things, either cheap rockers, or push rod to short.


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- Bill Cannon -
- Custom Drag Racing Engines & Transmissions - Awesome Engines - [QUOTE]


Wish I could figure out the quoting thing, but anyway here is the post you made earlier.......which one is the correct way to remedy the problem? Thanks for you help.

[betts3racing]

Thanks for the info guys. We finally got a set rockers that will work Crane Cams makes rockers to fit the bigger retainer. Or as Bill mentioned harland sharps will also work as i had a set on my old motor and tried one out of couriosity. Now my problem is finding a stud girdle to fit these heads the search is on again. Thanks again for your help.

Doug Betts

[Awesome Bill]

I knew you were not having an issue with the geometry, and it was the issue with the outside of the retainer not clearing the id of the rocker pocket. I do not recommend relieving that area but if we have to, we use a radiused cutter and only move it outward a little. You have to remember that we do this all the time and as long as it is radiused, it should not cause a problem. I cut 1 set with an end mill and they broke very fast. Since then we use a special radiused carbide bit and it looks factory and have had no problems. How do you think the manufacture does it? So now get it done and glad your fixed.

[lun40119]

I had the crane gold rockers and they didn't fit. What length valves and pushrods are you running? What size studs? While test fitting mine with 7.900 pushrods, the cranes were +.100 off the valve tip cause the retainer was hitting inside of rocker. Longer pushrods seemed to help. How is the pattern on the top of the valve? Sorry for all the questions, just tryin to soak up some knowledge.

Jake

[reinhart]

I'm having a similar problem with pro-1 heads and Jessel shaft mount rockers. During the mock-up of this motor I noticed interferance between the rocker arms and springs. I was advised to radius the rocker arms but now I see that when I use the special headbolts to align the rocker arm stands (which I should have done in the first place) the stud holes are too close to the valve stems for the stand bolts to fit. I tried the stands on 2 other engines and they fit fine. Now what?

[lun40119]

I had to make the stud rockers work, check with Bill he seems to work with this stuff alot...........good luck.

Jake

[Awesome Bill]

I think your problem is the 2 angles, 1 of the intake and exhaust valve, 23° and then the rocker stud hole which is off the head bolt holes and is fixed. The longer you make the valve, installed height of the retainer, the closer the fit becomes. We have encountered this many times with a +.200 valve, what a pain in the but. We can not even get the rocker to slide down because it runs into the retainer. We have now found a good PAC spring that gets us in with a +.100 valve and can run .775 lift. So if this is the case, you will need a little help with that clearence on the rocker. I would not be cutting on any Jesel rocker arms. I hope I understud this correctly, if not let me know.

[reinhart]

My analysis of the problem was pretty much the same as Awsome Bill until after I got the head bolts in that actually index the rocker arm stand to the head. Now the 8 capscrews that hold the bar down miss the stud holes by about a threadwidth. The stud holes seem to be too close to the valve stems, in fact if the stud holes were about an 1/8" closer to the intake side of the head everything would fit, rocker arms and all.

[Awesome Bill]

I would not use them if there is any question with that. I have not run into that with the Jesel or T&D system. Something does not seem right there. "AWESOME" has an E Call the manufacture and talk to tech, they might help.

[reinhart]

Well, I talked to tech several days ago and they thought maybe because the heads maybe were angle milled before the stud holes were drilled the geometry was off. I was hoping to hear back E-mail but no reply so far. So who, in your opinion, makes a good stud mount rocker arm with some extra clearance?

[Awesome Bill]

just call around, but Harland sharp would be my choice.