Gtex, about your Erson rocker spacing...
 

The new Erson part number doesnt appear to be shipping yet. I am told that it could be 4 weeks before they do.

If you would be so kind as to describe the alignment problems you mentioned it might help me decide whether to buy the normal set and shim them, or wait for the 427 version.

-Scouder

A more experienced mechanic may not have as much fun as I did.

There is a "roll pin" that must be tapped out to get the stands off the shafts. When pulling the shafts on and off there were a lot of aluminum shavings coming off from the edges around the rocker stud holes. I tried to clean them up good, but it still botherd me that this could get in my engine. just pulling the stands on and off is a clumsy process. Things are tight, then you pull and things come apart and you lose your place...etc etc..

Getting the shims in the right combination is a lesson in organization or repitition :-) There are certain things I assumed, that may have been wrong. Like, there must be at least one shim on each side of the rocker.

I still did not get the dead center valve stem to roller rocker relationship I hoped for with any combination I tried. It certainly improved. But I doubt I'm anywhere near the Erson listed spec. I can't recall what it is, but it is rediculous in my opinion.

If you consider I paid about an extra $50 for the shim kit, I'd pay another $50 not to do that shim install. So, If I could get them preset for the ed Heads, I'd easily pay $100 more.

Now, If you can't get them, and you want to put your motor together. I can understand that as well. Plan a few hours to accomplish the shim install!


Possibly related or not: I've had some trouble keeping the adjuster retaining nuts tight after running. I even had one come off completely. I have since retorqued them all to the same value as the rocker studs (about 40lb-ft). This valu was not specified by Erson.

I appreciate your response. I guess I'll ponder it for a while and decide later.

-Scouder

It's my guess that even if you buy the set-up "preshimmed" for the E-bocks you'll end up jacking with it before you're through. I bought the Dove assemblies and there were instructions for installing on E-bock heads; not much help. After putting everything together per the instructions several times and not liking the result I resigned myself to custom fitting one rocker at a time; a few of the rockers needed the shims sanded which was even more fun. (Why is blood oozing from my fingertips?). I have the endstands so the R&I process wasn't quite so bad. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my rocker assemblies.

Erson is out to help us FE types. I bet they get it close if not dead on. It took me a while to shim out my stock adjustables on the DSC shafts and Dove stands but DSC gave me plenty of shims to do the job.

no doubt about it. There are plenty of shims in the shim kit. I've got a whole mess left. I'm not sure why the kit has so many, don't know where they would fit.

I got the Dove setup from DSC, and Dennis assembled one side for me (for the ED heads), and even those weren't perfect. They were close, but all of the roller tips weren't quite centered... they were a little bit off. I know Dennis knows what he's doing, and I figured that if even he couldn't get it dead on, little ol' me certainly didn't have a chance!

I guess what I was hinting at is that there is enough randomness in the E-bock castings that to get things perfect you're probably going to have to do a little tweaking even if the assemblies were preconfigured for the heads. I was a little unsure how much slop was acceptable and I'm using Crane 3/8" pushrods so I had almost no room for error to keep the pushrods from rubbing on the pass-through holes in the intake.

Rob at Blue Oval called me today and said that the Erson rockers with the Edelbrock spacing will only be a few more days. I think I'll wait and give em a try. If they still need shimming then I'm no worse off.

-Scouder

Sounds like a good plan. I bet they will bolt up! But, that could be the tequila talking :-)