I just aquired a set of self-aligning 1.6 roller rockers. can i use these on my stock heads? will I notice any increase in power?

Right now I'm stock other than an open element filter, and misc "free" mods... but still running low 16's in the 1/4.

I plan on doing at least a full exhaust, the "Ultimate TBI"mods, and a good tune on the car this winter.

The roller rockers sell for around $250 new, they are still sealed in the box... I guess my question is... is it worth keeping them and putting them on my car, or selling them for $250 on ebay?

-Jim

 

A rocker ratio increase on these cars is a valuable mod. You get pretty good returns on your investment. I would sell those in favor of some roller tipped rockers that go for about half of that. 1.6 rockers help increase cylinder fill with these motors given the small stock cam that they came with.

 

If it were me, I'd sell them and get the stamped self-aligning 1.6 steel rockers. The money you get back can be used for the exhaust, and that's the mod that will provide the best gain in performance.

The friction reduction of full rollers, especially with a street cam (or even more especially with a stock LO3 cam), is greatly overstated. The extra power of larger ratio rockers comes from the extra breathing allowed by the higher lift of the valve, and that's especially true on an engine (like the LO3) that has a very mild cam and heads that don't breathe all that well in stock form.

 

One thing I really like about 1.6 RR's is that they are so easy to install; and they will definitely give you a difference in power.

 

Thanks for the input, I'm gonna pop them in today since I have the day off.

These are the rockers I got BTW

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

-Jim

 

Put them on and adjusted them... I have to wait for the snow to melt to take it for a test drive.

-Jim

 

Any news on this yet Jim?

 

I've heard good things about Summit's line of parts. Really cheap price and good quality... let us know how it went.

 

Drove the car to work today, noticed a signifigant increase in power, I put the car sideways into 2nd gear on dry pavement, I've never been able to do that before. (700R4 BTW)

I got my roller rockers for free, but even if I bought them, I would definately say I got my moneys worth. Kepp in mind my car is 100% stock other than the rockers, I'm sure I'll see a HUGE increase in performance once the full exhaust, manifold, TB, ignition, chip, driveshaft and rear end is installed.

 

kool can't wait to do that on mine, should be even funner with 1.6 rollers and a set of better flowing heads for it that i'm porting and will throw on with the new hardware.

Should be fun so see how bad the computer freaks if nothing else lol.

 

Lesson recently learned with 1.6 rockers installed on stock heads . . . make sure to check pushrod clearance to the pushrod holes in the heads. The 1.6 rockers move the pushrod pocket on the rocker closer to the pivot, so the pushrod moves outboard. Most of my pushrods are now line-on-line with the pushrod holes in the head, a few may be making light contact at high rpms since the pusrods deflect like a tuning fork under high cylinder pressures.

Now I have to take everything back apart and pull off the intake manifold to elongate the pushrod holes.

So be careful to check pushrod clearance before installing 1.6 rockers on stock heads. In a worst case situation, contact with the head will not allow the pushrod to sit properly in the rocker arm pocket. That will tear things up in a hurry.

 

With just the rockers and aluminum driveshaft I noticed a big increase in overall power.the motor spins alot better and the car pulls so much harder now.I have 1.6 comp roller tip rockers.