Thread: Roller lifters for 350

Tweet

You guys have been a real help in my Chevy van project. The next question.
When I rebuilt my 350, I had a four bolt main 350. I bored it .030. Decked it, trued it, balanced it. I have 64cc heads. I used a .196-.204 cam. It has now about 9000 miles on it. It has a performer manifold, with 600 Edelbrock EGR carb. Standard HEI ignition.
My cam is set at 0. I am considering roller rockers. The quandry. The lifters are stock. I am guessing 1/5. I am considering going roller rockers 1/6. Do I go 1/6 with intake and exhaust, or just intake with the exhause 1/5?
What I am trying to do, is increase fuel mileage, which the cam really helped, and reduce internal friction. I want the engine to be smooth. It is dual piped with a crossover. AT 10,000 I plan on going to synthetic oils. I have had good luck with them in the past. No visible wear on the engine. It still smokes on start up, but I suspect it is still wearing in. Only on start up, with 1qt consumption of oil at 3000mi.
Not too shabby. We use the van as a shop truck, and our project get around the country. A new transmission is in the works down the road. It is slow to engage after it has been sitting for a while. No noise though, and shifts real well.

If you are using the factory head...which I am sure you are you'd want to put the 1.6 rockers on the exhaust side.....because the exhaust side is restrictive....

I would probably just buy a set of 1.5 and put them on because 1.6's usually are not a direct fit.....they cause the push rod to rub the passage where they go thru the head....always been my case....to fix you have to drill out the push rod holes and you don't want to do this with the heads on the vehical...

If your van still smokes on startup after 9000 miles its not going to quit. You most likely have a valve guide and or valve seal problem. It very will might be that someone knurled the valve guides rather than put new guides in when you had the heads done You dont need to wait any longer to put synthetic oil in it. I'd do it whenever your next oil change is due. there are some very good transmission additives out their that might help. My 92 GMC transmission was very suspect at 120,000 miles I thought it would go anytime. I flushed it good ,changed the fluid and filter and put a good, (not cheap)additive in it. It now has 168,000 miles and still going strong. And, I have been tough on it pulling horse trailer ,car trailer and equipment trailers. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Back to the smoking on startup. I am assuming that the smoke you are seeing is oil smoke. If so I stand by my prediction.

Denny ,You're right. It is risky. I was willing to take the gamble and so far it has worked out for me. Knock on wood. I use to sell Wynns Extended warranties with the cars I sold .They would give an additive kit for everything in the car. Engine,trans, rearend, A.c. power steering,cooling system etc. This stuff must have been 3 times better than most additives that you could buy locally It worked . I dont think their across the counter products even compared to this. Thats what I put in my trans at 120k and just did it again recently.Its been on borrowed time and it may fall out in 7 more hours when I have to tow our Church trailer.Oh well!

The Crane stamped 1.6 rocker (right) offers a noticeably longer slot to prevent binding on the rocker stud compared to the stock. The rocker on the left is a late-model guided style that should not be used with guide plates since this will cause binding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i allways thought all the 1.6 rockers had the longer slot so it could center itself.

I like the technical. I read the site on the roller rockers. I appreciate you guys help.
With the trans, we just let it warm up. Once we start rolling, it is good from a standing start up. I blew the governer gear on the way here from LA to Tampa. At that time, we cleaned and replaced the filter, and flushed the fluid. We live with that.
On the rockers. The cam is one bump up from dead stock. It is a torque cam. Real mild. I am wondering, if I go to 1.6/1, I do get more power. I changed the rear to a posi and went from 3.23 to 2.73. It has a balanced torquer manifold, and carb. It does have a shudder at idle, and backing up the shudder is noticeable. If I go with 1.5 rollers, I get the cam and engine probably just balanced. That might be the ticket for our use. I wonder if, I just dropped in 1.6 rollers what benefit I might get. I want smooth, and strong. It is a Van.
I want to get good mileage and reliability. I might go with 1.5 intake, and 1.6 for exhaust. I still need advice on this.
The valve smoking. It is really a puff on start up in the morning. When I got the engine rebuilt, the mechanic was pretty good and cared about the results. We stayed local and made small trips untill we had 500 miles on it. At 500 miles, we went from LA., to Tampa. We went easy, and varied the speed. We were loaded and took hills real easy.
The valve smoking is no problem, and the oil consumption is negligeable. 1qt every 3000 miles. I can live with that. We went with a larger pump, it idles at 28lbs, and cruises at 48. I do like pressure.
Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.
What I do with the rockers. The original rockers are in place, and they have wear.

Thanks. I appreciate the experience. I can just see adjusting the valve lash with solid lifters.
It sounds like going with 1.5 will give the bump I am looking for. I would try 1.6 if they do not interfere with easy installation. I wonder if it would be worth it.
The engine is still breaking in also. At 9000 miles, it is still new for a rebuild. No leaks, it only smokes at first start up, 1 qt at 3000 miles. It does have a shudder at idle when not under a load, and backing up. My wife is the principle driver of this rig and she does not really have the knack of the accelerator yet.
I think the shudder might be from a worn rocker. The original rockers were put back in at the rebuild. That shudder makes me nuts! I have tried the carb, adjusting timing, tweaking this, that.
It is an EGR Edelbrock and I contacted the company. They told me that dead start with the idle jets was 2.5 turns from bottom. They were 1 turn off their own instructions. I have to set timing by ear and hesitation. It is 4 degrees BDC and I have to time it a little hotter. Probably the cam.
I do like things perfect.

i'll give you one tip with the transmission since i'm not really a chevy guy but i know transmissions fairly well... if you're planning on paying someone to rebuild that tranny in the near future, first get a free summit and jegs catalog... you can buy new aftermarket trannys designed to handle more power than stock ones, that are lifetime garaunteed.. and anything you order out of summit, you get free shipping

I think, with as little real load I put on the van, a stock tranny with towing valve body is the ultimate ticket. It is probably dried out internal seals. It has done this from day one, three years ago.
I have contacted seveal roller rocker manufacturers. The one from summit mikes out to 1.52/1 consistantly. They also caution on using the 1.6/1 rockers. They rub the head with the pushrod on occasion. That is not too my liking, and I am not ready to pull the heads yet.
I am giving consideration to replacing the 600 EGR Edelbrock with a Q-Jet. It always feels like it needs a tune up. It also does not have a smooth power transition from start up through cruise.
I think I am going to go with 1.5's and maybe a Q-Jet. I am not sure.
You guys are really helping. I appreciate it.

I looked up this older thread because this concerned me. I have both sets of the roller tipped rockers from Speedway, the cheaper $89 type. One set is a 1.5 ratio and the other is a 1.6 ratio because I want three things: 1) less friction leading to lower oil temp. and 2) more torque by using 1.6 rockers on the exhaust and 3) reasonable economy using the 1.5 rockers on the intake with a 196/204 degree cam at 0.050". However two of the replies above mention rubbing of the pushrods in the stock guideholes with the 1.6 rockers. How serious is this as a source of fine metal particles? I realize that the holes could be enlarged with the heads off the engine but it is not wise to grind or drill the heads on the engine, so the "safe" thing to do is just use all 1.5 roller tipped rockers, or can I determine clearance on the 1.6 rocker pushrods by observing the pushrods when the engine is rotated slowly by hand?

Don Shillady
REtired Scientist/teen rodder