I had taken my car into my mechanic's shop to have him put in my tranny, 3000 stall tc, cam and hsr. when taking off my valve covers he noticed that the rocker stud on one of the cyls was broken, so he had to drill it out and fix it.

when all was done, the car drove OK, but i did notice that it felt a little weird. i didnt want to step on it it because i was still breaking in the cam, but i wouldnt need to step on it to find out something was wrong. i started to notice that whenever i was in low rpms in 4th gear, the car would shake. i popped the hood and the engine was shaking horribly. i popped the valve cover, and almost hit the ceeling. they didnt tighten the lock on the rocker, and the rocker came loose. i dont know how i didnt bend my push rod, but my rocker was pretty much eaten to the point of no return. i have some pictures here so you can see the damage.

anyway, to my questions... first, i know im going to have to replace the rocker. the end of the valve is slightly scratched... i passed my finger on it and i couldnt really feel any difference... just looks like a scuff mark on the retainer and on the end of the valve. i couldnt get a real clear picture of the pushrod, but at the tip where it meets the rocker, the verry tip of it looks scratched... but the rest of it looks fine. you can tell it rubbed against something, but it's not damaged that bad. i rolled it on a very flat surface, and noticed that it's pretty much straight, except that it has a curve to it that you cant see, but you can hear. do you guys think i should replace the pushrod anyway, just incase? if that's the case, what type pushrods should i get and what size since im running stock rods right now (not sure what size the stock pushrods are).

another question... the stud that they had to drill out and replace seems to be glued in there. is there any real reason for it to be glued in there? im ordering a set of arp rocker studs and locks, and i wanted to know how would i be able to take out the stud if it's glued in there?

also, i know i'll be taking the car past 6k a few times, and i wanted to get a rev kit to make sure nothing happens to my engine. does anyone have any suggestions on what rev kit i should go with if i have a comp cams 503 cam, crane gold rr's, and crane valve springs?

and one last thing. if you look at the roller rocker picture, you'll know that there's a bunch of small fine pieces of metal floating around in my engine now. how should i go about getting the metal pieces out of my car? should i just replace the oil/filter a few times and be done with it, or am i going to have to go at it in a different way?


man... this bites. im so pissed about the whole thing... you can tell they never tightened the lock on the rocker because the damn thing was just sitting there! there were no stress marks on the lock or anything... ahh. im going to try to resize the pictures and post them up. thanks for your help guys, i really do appriciate it.

 

first pic... a new useless crane gold 1.6 rr

 

pic 2 ... the "afro-engineered" rocker stud... lol

 

pic three...

 

Definitely replace the pushrod. They aren't nearly as strong if their bent at all, even if you can't see it. Stock pushrods are 5/16. It looks as though you still have the stock press in studs. If thats the case they have to be pulled out with a stud puller or by stacking washers up the stud and tightening a nut down on them to pull the stud out. The machine shop can do it for you when you have the ARP screw ins installed. I would also replace that spring retainer, locks, and valve just to be safe. Also I'm pretty sure the ARP poly-locks won't work with the Crane Gold RR's. The body of the lock is too big to fit inside the rocker slot.

What is the specs on the Comp 503 cam, I couldn't find it in the catlog?

 

08-503-8 Comp Cams "Extreme" Hydraulic Roller Camshaft, 224 / 230, .502 / .510 112 LSA, High performance street machines, 2000+ stall, gears, choppy idle

but i have 1.6 rr's so the lift is actually .535 / .544

 

With TPI I wouldn't bother with a rev-kit. You will more than likely quit making power before you get to an rpm that its useful. I would go with Comps recommended springs though (987). I would also get hardened pushrods just because. Also make sure you use the screw in studs you mentioned before. The stockers will not handle that cam.

 

i dropped the tpi for the hsr

 

yea id replace everything pretty much associated with that loose rocker arm. sorry to hear it man that really sucks, id make the shop pay for it too!!!

im soon going to an hsr too on my 383 and was actually looking at that cam, the xr276hr (it was the first one comp recommended to me) but decided to step up to the 08-432-8 (230/236 @.050 and .544/.555 with 1.6's) but on a 112 lsa simply because of the extra cubes. let us know how everything turns out and tell me how that cam and hsr work for you!!!

 

alright man, ill keep ya posted

ive looked at the spring and the valve and they seem to be in good shape... the only thing i can see is just a scratch on the retainer, and it's not even really damaged... it's just a scratch. spring looks good so there's really no point in replacing that. is there any real reason i should change the retainer if it's only a small scratch? u can see it, but you can barely feel the scratch on the retainer

 

well the only thing i would worry about is if that small scatched weakened over time and broke.......then youd have another big problem. but retainers are so cheap anyways...the main thing is a new pushrod and rockerarm.

btw when you find a good rev kit let me know, ill be in the market for one soon.

good luck man

 

afr has a really good rev kit... crane and comp cams have one too. which one is better, i have no idea.. but if you're going to take your car past 6k, u'll need one so you don't kill yourself when something happens to your valvetrain, lol

 

I would go ahead with the rev- kit if your going with the HSR. I would anyway. I agree with CamarosRUS, if that scratch weakend the retainer it would suck to drop a valve over something so inexpensive and easy to fix.