Thread: 390 Rockers

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It's taking me a long time it seems to finish this motor but all I lack at this point is the Valve train.

The machine work is done. It is balanced and I had the block decked to square it up, crank turned, rods resized, and 9.5-1 pistons. The valves and heads are ready to go as well. Nothing radical but I've already got $2K in the motor. This is the high performance 390 in my 65 T-bird. I want to be able to light up the tires once in a while!

Question is, my rockers and shafts are worn out and I was looking at the Harland Sharp roller rockers/Comp Cams roller rockers verses the Stock set-up. Anybody have advice one way or another? There is a Harland Sharp now on ebay with the bid a $250, the Comp Cams set up will run around 500+.

This is not for race but for fun!

I just noticed I put this in the wrong place! Needs to be in a different forum!

What lift cam and valve spring pressures are you running? G.

with as much as you've said... i'd preferably reccomend the roller rockers... it'd give you that little extra bit of go, but most likely aren't required.... problem with having them though is that you'll have to install guidplates, which means pulling the heads and machining them and you gotta buy hardened pushrods which cost a pretty penny unless you can get lucky on ebay and get a set for anywhere between $35-$100

hi. from what you have explained about the motor imo you could get the set up for the individual adjustment rockers and use a hyd cam of you choise, that way you can adjust them all seperate like the sbc. i did this to a 410 engine and it worked out very well, just set the depth to about 160 k or so and you'll be ok9lifter depth)

hi. from what you have explained about the motor imo you could get the set up for the individual adjustment rockers and use a hyd cam of you choise, that way you can adjust them all seperate like the sbc. i did this to a 410 engine and it worked out very well, just set the depth to about 160 k or so and you'll be ok(lifter depth)

My $0.02 ...

If you go with aftermarket rockers for your FE, use the rocker shafts from the same manufacturer. I have heard of (but haven't seen personally) clearance issues when mixing brand A rocker arms with brand B shafts.

If you are running a mild hydraulic cam, take a look at the roller tip cast rockers. I think Crane makes them.

Talk to your machinist and see what he thinks about having rocker shaft end stands installed to minimize shaft flexing.

You may want to consider swapping out the rocker shaft springs & washers for the shimmed solid spacers to help keep the rocker arms centered over the valve stem tips. (btw. FE's dont need pushrod guide plates installed)

With a center oiler block, it's usually a good idea to drop in some oil restrictors
into the heads before you bolt down the rocker assemblies. Some people use .090 Holley jets, others cut short pieces of SBF pushrods. The most precise way to control top end oiling is tap the oil passages and use the center drilled thread in plugs.

I've had several sets of adjustable rockers on FE's and they sure make life easier. And no, they don't require guide plates or hardened pushrods, that's SBC stuff. Ford had a better idea!