Hey all. I have a 74SB dent with 390 out of a 65 Tbird. Its has some work done to it "mild cam, Headers, aluminum intake, 750 edelbrock, Built c6, Doug nash underdrive system" I love this truck and have owned it for 20 years. The power is great and the torque is fantastic. Many years back when gas prices where on the rise I was looking for better MPG so I put the doug nash unit in thinking it was an underdrive/overdrive just like a gearvendors. I had a 3.0 rear gear. So come to find out it was an underdrive/direct drive and I was a bit disapointed. I got it for free from a customer so not to disapointed but the benis where not what I was looking for. So I did some research and found that for 2 years ford made a 2.50 gear. So I searched for quite some time before I found a ring and pinion. I put it together and I had the RPMs I was looking for but as we all know the MPG well they didnt really change much. I can cruse at 70 at 2200RPM but still cant break about 11MPG. Which now with gas prices down I dont mind at all. I know if I put a 4spd in I could get more but its ok. So I was thinking and did a little more research and found good prices on full roller rocker sets "Ebay" I am not really looking for the MPG so much anymore just wanted to give a little background to my truck. Does anyone run these roller rocker set ups and are the benis worth the investment. Will they free up any more ponys? I would imagine less friction is a good thing. Would they help with higher RPMS? Thanks for reading and any input would be great

 

bump. Anyone add roller rockers after motor was done. Notice any difference?

 

Can't say as I notice a difference because I rebuilt and included rollers.
But if you're looking for more power from a street engine by adding roller rockers you won't find any.
I built my engine all roller in order to keep it cooler in LA traffic.
Mission accomplished.
The only other thing I would say is stay way away from those cheap Ebay roller set ups (the gold ones). Those are low dollar Chinese.
Not bashing Chinese parts as I have some. However those are garbage.
Not looking to start a Chinese parts bash here.
Nothing wrong with the stock rockers.
If you're hot to upgrade them I would say to add some end stands for the shafts and or get a heavier shaft.
Here's a place to look. Good luck.

Precision Oil Pumps

 

Adding rollers now will show few if any benefits. Where rollers live and live well is on high RPM engines. They were a GREAT advance for factory OEM Hi Perf engines as it allowed much longer warranty's with little cost to the Factory.

Will it give you some more HP, torque, mpg, jump higher, run faster, yea, but what it does is improve efficiency of operation aka less friction, less wear.

They began to see use in SBC back in the 60's and later emerged in OEM form on Corvettes and it just spread from there.

When you go to do a rebuild, add them, why not, but adding now won't bring much to the table other than expense.

 

Thanks guys. The motor has maybe 10-15k on it. I did hear it will help it run cooler which would be nice since I am in FL. Thanks for the input on the chinese ones. Yes they were the ones i was looking at because it came with everything for about 250$ Ends shafts mounts ECT, The next project is limited slip diff. I just picked one up and need it bad. I run 275-60-15s BFG TAs all the way around and dropped 3" In manual 2nd and high range on the doug nash unit I can still burn the one tire for a block so having posi is going to be a big help. Many years ago I was going to put a mini spool in it but that would be hard on the diff as a daily driver. I still might get a better quality set of roller rockers but I will stay away from the gold ones

 

Are these any better then the gold ones.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-FE-390-428-Shaft-Mount-1-76-Ratio-Aluminum-Rocker-Arms-With-Hardware-/181603301792?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a486679a0&vxp=mtrAlso wont the 1,76 help open the valves a bit more? or will the lifters stop that from happening? I am a transmission builder but not the best engine guy.

 

Changing the rocker arm ratio is (can be) a poor man's cam upgrade. Generally cheaper than doing a new cam.

That said I do not know your OEM ratio, nor am I a Ford engine builder, Chevy is my world and has been since the early 60's. It not rare to make this mod on a Chevy and I have done on engines for folks looking for a bit more power without the expense of pulling the rad, cam and you still have to pull the push rods, so it makes sense. Check with some of the Ford gas boys on this ratio and what you might expect. If it was a Chevy I would not hesitate to tell you go for it if want and the gains are limited but certainly there.

 

While its true you can get more lift with a higher ratio rocker on paper.
It is not a horsepower panacea.
Remember everything is related. It's possible to make your engine run worse. Though you wouldn't with these.
FE ratios are generally 1.73 to 1.76.
Just adding that small amount won't get you much if anything noticeable on a street engine.
As far as those other rockers, I would be very careful.
Remember everything has a duty life. In other words different metals will fail after so many cycles at a different rate. Steels duty life is much higher than aluminum. Thats part of the reason for your stock steel rockers.
There are plenty of great (read high dollar) aluminum rockers out there (ex. Harland Sharp). But even they have a duty life. The quality of the castings/forgings have a lot to do with it.
A drag race engine though getting beat on hard has fairly short duty cycle. So light parts help.
A street engines duty cycle goes on and on and on. So heavier steel parts are needed.

 

im not starting a bashing thread on Chinese parts either but, after drag racing for 28yrs of my life,dont buy any of them. The valve train is the weakest link in your engine, buy a well known brand name(crane,crower,comp cams) if your gonna change them. But like others said,you will get nothing from it, at all. How ever,if you buy a cheap brand your next new thread just maybe "My new cheap RR's broke"

 

Agree with Bud.
With one small caveat. Intended purpose.
Again lets use a drag race engine vs a street engine.
Drag race engine requires the best performance you can afford (or not afford) for each piece of the engine because of huge forces (such as rpm, heat, and compression).
A street engine you have more latitude as they don't rev to 7 grand, they don't have high compression, etc. What they do have is long periods of use.
So longevity of parts is paramount.
Here's where the Chinese thing comes in.
I have to use my engine as an example because it's the one I know most about.
When I planned my engine I wanted horsepower and torque (duh, who doesn't).
But it has to stay alive in a savage environment, the freeways of LA.
So it has to run cool as well as be powerful in stop and go traffic in 100 plus degree heat.
How do you cut down on generated heat? Reduce friction. So my whole engine is roller wherever possible.
The rockers I found were made by an American company in China and finished here. And they are steel. Yes they are PRWs that get the snot bashed out of them by lots of folks.
But they are steel. Not many around.
But because I worry about Chinese metal I also replaced the adjusters with good ole local made Mantons. The adjusters get beat on.
They cost 700 bucks a set plus I added adjusters so there's another 75 bucks.
The point is they ain't cheap and that's as low a grade as I would accept for the intended purpose.
Would I put them in a drag car? Heck no.
Am I prepared if they fail? Sure it's been a fun experiment. But 8k on 'em so far and they look great.

I'm tired of typing.

Those other rockers you show are to cheap to be any good. IMHO

 

Thank you for typing so much LOL But I wanted to understand why and you explained it very well. So first and formost if I want to go roller then its best to use steel and not aluminum. Also use a brand name. This is very simple and I thank everyone who posted.

 

if heat is a big concern i would go with Alum and not steel,IMO. Alum will help dissipate heat where steel will hold it,and yes, only top brand names, PERIOD!

 

If you are looking for a high performance engine. Then I almost totally agree with Bud.
Where I disagree is the "PERIOD".
Yes aluminum disperses heat better than steel.
However I called and talked to the big roller makers and they confirmed for me that yes aluminum has a shorter duty life than steel.
My engine has to just run and run forever if possible.
So I decided I wanted a steel roller as I felt the heat dissipation issue in that case was trumped by the friction issue. Did I make the right decision? Only time will tell.
It's fun to really research stuff and decide for yourself what YOU want for your engine.
There are some steel rollers out there by good companies like Jesel but they cost a fortune. So they were out of my ballpark for a street engine.
I must say I enjoy discussing engine part theory a lot.
So thank you guys

 

The heat issue is a false flag. Granted alum dissipates heat faster than steel, where does it go???? To the oil bath itself. If you don't have a heat issue now, then alum is not going to solve a nonexistent problem.

As for wear and long life generally speaking another false flag. Examine an alum rocker, take note of the OPPPS Steel roller tip and the Steel bearing insert. Chevy has been making all alum engines OEM RPO for YEARS, my wife's car, an '09, has an all alum V8 engine and it just ticked over 110,000, its about 400 hp 400 torque. My '01 Chevy was all alum V8, 6500 redline and I have some friends running those who have well over 100k miles.

Alum is not used for bearing surfaces as a general rule...which is not to say there are applications where it is used, such as the upper receiver group on a AR rifle. I have one in 5.56 and 7.62. Not rare for mil spec AR's to see rd counts in excess of 50,000 rds. So you have a steel bolt carrier group interfacing with the upper alum group...20 years in inventory, 50,000++ rds, still shooting. No you do not have the extreme surface bearing pressures you would find in an engine at the crank or cam, but those are steel sleeved.

 

I think I'm understanding you.
I'm not sure about the second false flag.
Yes aluminum has it's uses and many engines are made from it but in my all aluminum 4.6 DOHC motor the rockers are steel.
So each metal has things it does better.
Are we saying the same thing?