I agree with everything you said, Fordman. I am, however, a bit skeptical about the 5 435's for the price of one ZF. I paid $300 for mine. Last time I was at the j/y I found two, at $175 a pop. But anyway...I know you were messing around.

I really could not agree more with what you said about Clifford's. I interviewed him when my engine was new, and he said virtually the same thing about my sbc valves. I'm still driving it. I believe he practices fear induced sales. He's a weenie!

AB--That is so funny with your reasoning about the bosses height. I had that exact conversation on another thread. If everything moves clear, i'd rather have a short distance from the boss to the r.arm than a longer one. Less leverage would be a good thing.

Cloyes gears. You mentioned your machinist had advanced your cam 4* with the advance key via Mr. Gasket. Are you toying with the idea of advancing it more? Can you do that? 4* with a Cloyes set, and 4* more with the key, but that's a lot of advance. Would it not have been better to have had it ground at 108* instead. But then you would have had the Blondie grind!

 

Nope not really kidding about the price. I've bought most of my NP435's for right around $50.00 ea. The most I usually pay for one is $100.00. For a 4x4 small block ZF 5spd the price is usually $450-$600 around here. The 2wd versions are slightly cheaper. The only real cheap ones I've seen either have the usual broken mount ear on the tail shaft housing or internal problems that require a rebuild.

 

Wow, I had no idea how inexpensive they were!

I'm still surprised at the price of the ZF, and all the extras with the install being a conversion from an automatic. Nope, don't like the slave being internal, nor the fixed bell. Both are shortcomings (one word?). By the time I finish I'll be over $800 into it, and that is kept down b/c I decided not to rebuild it prior to the install. New clutch master, slave, release bearing, pilot s.bearing, pedals, driveshaft redo, cross member fab work, etc., etc. Hopefully it will not need a rebuild.

Sorry to hijack your thread, AB.

I wasn't aware that all the surging, hesitation, cutting out, stopped with the DS2 swap. I'm very glad to hear it. Did you go with a stock coil? I wish yours was a collective engine/project, so we could all send you ignition, headers, rockers, carbs, transmissions, t.gears, so we could make it run like the beast it is. But then we'd have to borrow it on the weekend! ha ha.

 

Yeah, both my machinist and I were scoffing over what he said when I told him. It truly made no logical sense, which is probably why he wouldn't explain it to me. I'm just curious why he thought that, because he had nothing to gain from it except to help me out. Dunno...

I was curious about advancing it even more, too. That'd be 8° advance. And, if that was beneficial, wouldn't they have ground it that way from the start? Just thinking aloud.

Otherwise, yes, when I put the DSII back in, all of that just went *poof*. I also put the spark plugs back in from my last engine, along with the wires. I wanted to 100% completely swap everything out ignition related. And now that I put the DUI back in (and only the DUI, it still has the old spark plugs and wires), it hasn't come back, so I'm guessing I just got a bad spark plug.

On that note, I was getting some serious pinging up hill, so I backed the timing off. Right now, it's sitting at 20° base timing, and has the ported vacuum. It seems to be quite happy, so I'll drive it for a few and get a feel for it.



Last night, I was tweaking the carb and turned both idle mixture screws in at idle. It stumbled and struggled pretty badly, but it kept on running... I don't like that, since it usually means vacuum leak.
I haven't retorqued since I installed it since the Remflex says that due to the material they use, it's not necessary, but maybe I will anyway.


No worries.
Yeah, the four wheel drive ZFs are significantly more. Plus, for me to get any real benefit out of it, I'd have to regear both front and rear differentials, which either requires finding used ones (I'd go with 4.11s, which are much rarer), or have them installed, which is nutso expensive if you don't know what you're doing. So... I tolerate my 3.00 with the NP435. If I need some quick acceleration, I'll start out in granny. I'll top out my RPMs before I'm through the intersection, but hey... it's quite the launch!!

 

So, I found this interesting.

I was doing some searches on squeaky rocker arms, and was following this discussion over on hotrodders.com.

Rockers Still Squeak! - Hot Rod Forum : Hotrodders Bulletin Board

I thought this reply was worth noting:

(First off, I found that the slotted ***** helped over the non-slotted, but that's another matter.)

I found his idea that roller ball rockers and high spring pressures aren't compatible interesting. That's something my machinist and I have been discussing. Maybe the extra pressure simply squeezes down too hard and doesn't allow enough oil between the ball and rocker? Hence, chirp chirp chirp...

 

Interesting. I use the oem rockers, with Isky springs, 117 pounds pressure closed. I don't squeak. But then again, mine has always sounded diesel-ish.

Gears: Right now I'd just drive it. But, for some time in the future, if the gear bug bites you, I think I'd just swap out the entire rear end rather than use what you have and change those gears. Many years back I did that, from 3.76 to 3.31, changed the seals and bearings. Around here you can get one for about $150.

 

I'm curious, what happened to the roller rockers you have in your signature? I probably heard at some point, but don't remember.

Do you know what the pressure on your springs are when they're open? Also, do you know your lift?


The 4x4 gets a little more difficult since you have to change the front differential out too (and 80+ is is the twin traction beam up front, instead of a solid axle).
Then, there are fewer options. As far as I know, there was the 3.00, 3.50 (stock), and 4.11.

Ratios like 2.73, 3.31, and 3.73 are unheard of unless you buy them aftermarket.

 

When I had the head done, the shop installed new studs. At the time I knew nothing about arp or anything else regarding engines. I found those rockers at a swap meet for $100, bbc for a 409, with 3/8" shaft. they were 1.7 ratio. I have .450 lift without them, maybe slightly less, b/c FTF says the oem rockers don't give the actual 1.6 ratio. But with the extra lift, and without doing the math I believe it brought lift to .480, I got an extra burst of power that made me crack up when I got on the freeway. At the time I had an Eddy 500 too. Well, I guess the studs the shop installed were not grade eight. I floored it getting on the freeway one time and it sounded like a machine gun firing. Three of the studs sheared at the lock nut. I thought for sure I lost an engine. Miraculously, I did not suck a valve. I sold the rockers to a forum member.

I remember testing the springs years back for the Isky recommended tension/pressure, but can't remember what it was. I have the 6005 Isky springs.

Gears: Oh boy! I'm laughing. Of course you are 4x with a bronco. How could I have forgotten that? Yeps, that would complicate things a bit.

 

That's right, I remember that story now. Wow, yeah, that'd definitely be a relief to find that it hadn't completely detonated the engine.

I can't believe any reputable shop would use anything but either grade 8 or ARP when it comes to something like head studs. That's like using some nuts you bought at Walmart to hold your wheels on. They should know better. That's crazy that three of them snapped at one time!

My machinist and I were talking about the BBC rockers, and I asked him what 1.7:1 ratio would do. Checked the measurements and I wouldn't coil bind, but I'd be around 0.536 lift. H didn't see a problem with that, but I think that's starting to get pretty up there.

He finds the idea that BBC rockers would fit hard to believe since usually, when something fits more than one engine, manufacturers will list it. But, he has a BBC 1.7:1 3/8" roller rocker on hand that I could try fitment with.

And, if I understand right, Harland Sharpe is thee only manufacturer of roller rockers for the 300? There is simply no one else?

 

AB, imo, half an inch is already a lot of lift for a daily driver. It seems way overkill to increase that because you couldn't get a $50 set of arp studs. Many guys on the forum have run the bbc rockers. You should also consider the added strain on the v.train with the increased lift/stress.

I would first go to the j/y and pull a set of oem stud rockers, ***** and nuts, and try those. I'll bet a good set of FoMoCo ones will set you right. That's what I run, without squeak!

Or drive what you have for a couple of weeks and save up for a pair of these:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-1826-12 and a set of: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-100-7101

 

I agree, at 0.504, I'm at a lot of lift as it is.
And I was thinking about the added stress last night. Increasing lift would increase my open spring pressure. Without measuring that, it could put it out of range for the cam and chew it up (no thanks!).

Otherwise, I think you have a good idea of just going to the JY and getting a set of some Ford ones. From what I can hear, it only sounds like 1 or 2 rockers that are causing the problem. Maybe a defect?

If I go rollers, I think I'd go with the Harland Sharpe ones.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/c...view/make/ford

Less expensive than the BBC ones you have there, made for the engine, and would work with my 3/8" studs. I'd probably just need to raise my valve cover.

 

That is understandable. I had originally thought about HS rockers too. I think i'd seen some neg posts about them on some forums--google reviews--and that's why I looked elsewhere. But, you read good and bad everywhere. And then Pmuller9 said the steel ones were stronger.

But, it's all good. I just hope they work for ya.

 

I gotcha now, I didn't realize you were suggesting the BBC ones because they were steel and supposed to be stronger. Now that I'm thinking back, didn't you say the steel flexed less, too? If that's the case, I think I'd prefer that.

I just wish Comp would make some that'd fit it.

 

If I didn't go the full route, what about these?

COMP Cams: High Energy Steel Rocker Arms: Ford; 3/8", 1.6 Ratio

I like that they have a longer slot for "higher than stock lift camshafts".

 

Kind of seems like a waste of money to me. I'd just go full roller. You already told me the slots weren't the issue. The chirp is most likely coming from the pivot ball area. So why spend that much money on ones that still have the pivot ball?

Have you checked to see if they offer the BBC rockers in a 1.6 ratio? I know you can get the sbc rockers in 1.5, 1.6, 1.7. Maybe the BBC are the same way.