Champion Aluminums with chevy roller rockers?

[Eticket]

Please reply if you have experience with this:

When going to the individual chevy style roller rocker arm on a champion aluminum head from the stock rocker setup, did you have to change push rods? shorter or longer? or was there enough adjustment in the rockers to get the proper geometry when done?

I have a set of these and am trying to figure out what to expect before I crack the valve covers off.

thanks.

 

[ek02]

There is plenty of adjustment with the Scorpian rockers. The best way to determine pushrod length is to get an adjustable pushrod from Full Throttle. Mock up a head and gasket on the block and install the pushrod. Use a sharpie or magic marker to mark the valve tip. Adjust the valve. Rotate the engine so the valve fully opens and closes. The shiney spot on the valve tip should be right in the middle of the valve tip. Keep adjusting the pushrod until the shiney spot is in the middle of the valve stem tip. Measure the adjustable pushrod with a dial caliper and that is the length you will need. I ended up with 8.850 pushrods from Comp. That is the length Champion recomends. That's with a .030 Cometic gasket. If you are running a roller cam with some spring pressure, do yourself a favor and ditch the rocker studs that Champion uses. Get some ARP-200-7201 studs. Champion will upgrade to these studs if you ask them when you buy the heads. I broke a standard stud 75 miles from home. Thankfully, it was an intake. No air into the cylinder, no compression. I drove it home. If an exhaust stud breaks, it will pop through the intake and will not be good. I bought a set of 16 studs from Summit for 80.00, have 4 spares now. I have had no problems now in 12,500 miles with 6500 RPM many times.

 

[turboclam]

Good info on the studs, will either snap or strip. They never fail at a convenient time.

 

[Mike Licht]

they are a Chevy "style" rocker but not a direct fit for a chevy. The offset for the valves is different. Just want to make sure no one buys Chevy rockers thinking they will fit
Mike

 

[Eticket]

are you running 8.850's with a flat tappet cam? or roller cam? that's the normal length pushrod (as far as I know) for a flat tappet cam.

I have a pushrod length checker. I was just inquiring to know if I was going to have a car down for a few days or not- it is running and all together in the car.

Thanks.

 

[ek02]

I am running a Comp roller with 885 lifters. The cam has .526 lift at the valve with 1.65 ratio rockers. The lift can affect the geometry, and where the roller on the rocker hits the valve stem. The pushrod length is the same as a flat tappet cam with that lift. Head gasket thickness and block deck height can affect the length. You should be OK with the 8.850 pushrods. Of course, the 885 lifters are noisy as hell below 3000 RPM. I wish I had the Morels, but they were not out yet when I built the engine.

 

[ek02]

Be carefull if you are using ARP head studs. The studs Champion recommends are for a 109 block. That block has the threads sunken below the deck. I have a 4.1 block and the threads are flush with the deck. Some of the studs are too long then, and the nuts bottom out on the shoulder of the stud when torqued down. That will equal a blown head gasket. I had to mix 2 sets of studs to get the right length. If you are using bolts, I don't think there would be a problem with either block.