Engine Specs:
About 6 months ago i built a 383. eagle bottom end, procomp 3003 heads, 210 intake ports 2.02 1.60 valve. cam is 4.88int 5.10exh. 234 244 duration. procomp intake manifold, holley street avenger dual feed. malory adjustable FPR set to 6psi. Push rods are 100 thousands longer i think. Stock 305 exhuast manifolds and stock rocker arms. cloves double roller timing chain ngk vpower plugs.
Heres the problem:
the engine ran like **** misfiring and what not.
i took the valve covers off one day and seen the rockers were hitting the valve cover on the side not the top(i bought 20 dollar valve covers off ebay). i decided to stop driving the car. then i started to take rocker arms off. once i did this i seen the rocker was hitting the spring retainer. It was hitting on the edge by the arch of the rocker. I didnt take them for reasons but i pulled a push rod out and it was chewed up a little bit on the stem(near where it goes through the guild plates).
All the dumb stuff i did:
didnt presoak the hydraulic lifters (then adjusted valve lash) used stock rocker arms, used stock exhaust manifolds,

no smoke out exhaust. so i figure bottom end isnt the problem. it deffinetly looks like a valve train problem. so does anyone know about these heads. i dont really see how the rockers could be hitting both the valve cover and spring retainer. will roller rockers fix this problem. and are the valves hanging open or do they have way to much lash since i didnt presoak the lifters before i adjusted valve last.

 

Pre-soaking the lifters can cause the valves to hang open, so I never do it. As for the rest of it, I'm too tired to think. I'll read this again in the morning.

 

Check your pushrod length since you know you have too much lift. If you are reusing 305 roller cam pushrods they will be a different length than flat tappet pushrods. Also make sure your heads are setup to to handle the camshaft lift you are running.

 

No, it's not too much lift. It's trying to use stock rockers with larger springs. And you need hardened pushrods. As for the valve covers, you might have them outer edge in. They can be installed wrong, and sometimes you can't tell just by looking at them.

 

Those heads use self aligning rockers or do they need guideplates like most aftermarket heads?

 

I guess your correct if they are hitting the retainers. I thought they were hitting the guides.