It's crunch time now; I took my block to the machine shop today and I need to start making final decisions on parts. I have decided on a cam with slightly below, at, or slightly above .500 valve lift for my 429. I was looking at a set of roller-tip rockers for my DOVE-C heads and was wondering if they would perform similarly to roller rockers or roller lifters? I don't really want roller rockers due to cost, however I am interested in roller lifters or roller-tip rockers. Any advice or suggestions besides converting to an adjustable valve-train (which I really don't want to do)? Is there a difference at all in the performance of roller-tip rockers and roller lifters?
-Thanks, Jake
creator of "Project Thumper"

I was just thinking after I posted the above that I have to have guides to run roller-tip rockers, don't I? Du'Oh!

 

hey man
first off, bout the roller rockers, harland sharp makes a pretty affordable set for the 460, i have em and think they are pretty good. but as far as the roller cam goes, those are fairly pricey...ford motorsport wants like 600 for theirs(way bigger than .500 lift...but ya know). if the roller tip rockers you have have rails then no, you wont need the guide plates. if they dont, then ya do. you may wanna give t and a performance a call...they are based out of florida...have great prices on ford stuff, thats where i got all of mine. i cant think of the website...their number is 407 850 5555. but good luck...hope this helped
mike

 

I gotta agree on the HS rockers. I'm running close to .800 lift on a solid roller with no problems for years!

 

I've used Harland Sharp Roller Rockers on three different engines and never had a problem. The price between full rollers and roller tip is pretty close when you consider what you get. Don't forget hardened pushrods $150 and guideplates $40 if you run roller rockers or roller tips.

With your cam lift you won't be running over 5000rpm, so you could use the stock rail rockers without any problems. Get a set of Crane Kool nuts for about $30 and you'll have an adjustable valve train where you can adjust lifter preload and lock the rocker adjustment in rather than just torqueing them down.

Figure on about $700 for a roller cam/lifters and you'll still need roller rockers $200, hardened pushrods $150 and guideplates $40. Use 3/8" pushrods and guideplates if you do go to a high lift cam as the 5/16" pushrods are prone to bending at over 5500rpm. And you'll need some serious porting on the exhaust side of your heads to support the much higher lift of a roller cam.

Whichever direction you go, install new rocker studs.