trying to get my 392 engine finished up -need info on rockers and stuff ?? seen "rocker arms unlimited" site -just confused on what to order ? my old rockershafts need work /plus non adjustable -need to kow what to update with on them ? i have a set of "hot head"s heads-w-single hot heads 4 bbl intake ,so so cam, going in a anglia gasser/street car ,should i send my stock- n/adj stuff in to rebuild and make adj arms out of them or buy some nicer fancy stuff of theres ? also seen where "stanky "out of minnesota makes some similiar rocker arn stuff ?? never done a 392 before and know some of you guys are more familiar with them ! thanks
It would be good to have some adjustability in the valvetrain, given the mix of vintage and new components. You can get this via adjustable rockers, which are max bank, or adjustable pushrods, which are not. The pushrods are a little finicky to adjust, but how often will you be doing that? They hold up fine en even crazy-power dragsters. If your rockers are seriously bad, non adjustable ones can be had for small-scratch.
I went through all that deciding what to do. I finally sent my assemblies not Rocker Arm Specializes in Anderson, California. I think they may have changed their name since then. They hard chromed the shafts and centerless ground them then rebuilt the rocker arms to adjustables. It was a great job. The only drawback was I had to use aftermarket aluminum covers to clear the exhaust adjustment screws. Either that or find a set of dimpled Chrysler units. Yes, you could use adjustable push rods but they are a pain to adjust, be it once or regularly. My 2 cents.
If you are going to buy aftermarket roller rockers, or have your arms converted to adjustable.... give Gary at Rocker Arms Unlimited a call. With a mild cam, converting your arms will work fine.
There are a lot of options for you as it pertains to rocker arms for your early Hemi. Sifting thru all of the information can be akin to walking thru a mind field though. Sense you need all, or seem to the rocker arm shafts there self, the best deal out there that I could find was "Stanke Motorsports" they have completely new, shafts which is good as opposed to having your old ones polished and hard chromed. The run $75.00 per shaft or all four for $289.00 a set. Not cheap but what the hell it's a Hemi and the good news is they have them. When it comes to the rockers be aware that there are rockers out there that have no provisions for oiling. These are "RACE ONLY" and need to be oiled by hand in between runs. The billet aluminum rocker arms are very pricey somewhere around $2,500 to $3,000 a set they are cool and if you have the bread a damn good way to go. But are they really needed? You also can build your own set of billet rockers, using your shafts and stands. A set of the billet rockers with provisions for oiling will run you around $1,600. Then there are the adjustable factory rockers. I see them with a lot of different prices anywhere from $900.00 to a set on E-Bay that the guy wants $2,000 for. I have two sets of adjustable rockers. One is a Old School set by the name of Gotha. The Gotha's I have, I paid $800 for, trouble was the set screw is also the socket that the push rod sets into. The oiling hole on these Gotha's is damn small and on my set at some point in time some of those oil holes got plugged and nobody paid any attention to them. They were just junk or at least the sockets were. I have an old friend who is a Gunsmith and he made me a set of these to fix those rocker arms. He ran into so many problems it wasn't even funny, but in the end he got her done. The other set I have are the factory rockers and they are probably the best way to go if you decide that you just have to have a set of adjustable rockers. Unless you are running a solid lifter cam I am pretty sure you don't really need that. Or what you could do is call Hot Heads and order a set of adjustable push rods, as has been mentioned in an earlier post for around $150 and be done with it. They are a real pain in the butte to adjust and I mean a real pain. But hell get yourself a hot cup of coffee and a comfortable chair and get after it. I mean really just how many times to you think they will need to be adjusted?
I have time, patience, and an unlimited supply of coffee. I can buy a whole lot more cool Hemi parts for $1-2k, less $150. As I recall, this one has stock non-adjustable rockers, and adjustable pushrods. At upwards of 1200hp, I think this one sets the mark on how durable they would be in a mild street engine.
You know Gimpy in all probability a feller would be just fine with no adjustment either on the rockers or the push rods. I mean that's the way 99.9% of the things came. They went a lot of miles from the factory like that. Hell I over think everything I just had to have adjustable rockers, I mean had to. The fact that the push rods work just fine but are just a pain to get adjusted didn't matter to me at all. I wanted them and was for sure was going to have the stupid things. The 392 I am building actually came with both. Both what you ask? Well it came with 12 rockers that have adjustable push rods, and 4 rockers that have the factory type adjustable rockers. I mean what's up with that? Don't know how it ran, or even if it ran. This was supposed to be a ready to run built motor. Yea, yea, yea. Turns out I don't know if it will ever run again, the thing is .120 over stock. It does have new Jahns pistons but .120 man o man. I was lucky and found two more 392's so I have switched plans and I am going to build one of those. I wish I hadn't spent the money on the adjustable rockers and if I had to do it again I would for sure and for certain use the push rods.
I have seen similar weird stuff. SBC's with totally mismatched rockers. Single cylinders bored over. Single crank main journals cut under-size. A mixture of studs and bolts. All on running engines.
I've built both ways - street and all out race. If I had to build a street motor tomorrow, it would be adjustable push rods and stock rockers with a hydraulic cam (or a hyd roller). Just have the stock rocker setup rebuilt by someone. Hot Heads does an exchange deal on rebuilds too. Heard good things about Rocker Arms Unlimited but haven't ordered anything. For all out race - Missile rocker arms and bigger diameter pushrods.
Adjustable pushrods : Heat and bend a 3/8" open end wrench like 90deg. Mark pushrod and jam nut with white paint strip to count turns.
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