i am on round 2 of swapping a vortec 350 into my camaro from a 305. i had a camshaft fail that wiped it out a couple of years ago, and i finally got everything squared away to put her back together. i need to know if 1.6 roller rockers will fit under the stock vortec valve covers and not hit when operating, or do i need a set of tall valve covers? the ones i have look like this.

oh if it makes any difference i have screw in studs. also will i need guide plates?

 

first,, get full roller rockers,, not just a stamped 1.6 style.
a nice chrome tall set of valve covers are liek 30 bux,, or 100 for a real nice set.
vortec heads never had guidplates (any engine above 86 i belive)
it wouldnt be a bad idea havign guidplate if your cam is nasty, but a set of self aligning rockers will do just fine

 

the cam isn't that nasty, its a .487/.490 but with the 1.6 rockers is .519/.522. might go with full rollers down the road. i just dont have the money for the good stuff right now. im just trying to get her running again, its been a long time, and i miss that nice lope of the cam and deep grumble of the exhaust.

 

Those rockers should fit under the stock covers just fine. What makes the difference between 1.5 and 1.6 is where the 'dimple' for the pushrod is on the back of the rocker - on a 1.6, its a little bit closer to the rocker stud than a 1.5... its not any taller or longer necessarily. With that much lift though, those Vortecs may need some minor machinework... they dont take well to cams bigger than about .460 in stock form.

If you are going to spend money on aftermarket covers, don't get stamped ones... they are usually cheaply made and thinner than the OE ones, so they usually leak. Wait untill you have some money and get some good cast aluminum ones, or the GM composite LT1/LT4 Corvette covers.

 

i have had the head work done. just got them back a couple days ago. however i know very little about valvetrains, so i gave them the cam specs and told them 2 set them up for 1.6 rockers with that cam. they said ok, will do. well like i said above a .487/.490 cam(using 1.5 rockers) equates to a .519/.522 with 1.6, and they put on k-motion K-700 springs and told me with them doing that and cutting the spring seats and valve guides that the heads will be good up to .550 lift. funny though because i researched those springs and the manufacturer says theyre only good to .500. if i hadnt done the research on the springs i would have f*@#ed up another cam via coil bind and been right back where i started a few weeks back. so now i have to drive 30+min each way to have this problem fixed. what a big pain in the ***. all i want is to be able to drive my car again and i get companies trying to F**K me.

 

To really set it up properly, decide what cam you are going to use, then use the cam manufacturers suggestion for valve springs. That way you know for sure all the components will work properly togther. Valve springs aren't expensive.