Just picked an LT4 hot cam of my 87 TPI GTA and my question is.....

Will a set of 1.6 roller rocker arms fit and work under OEM valve covers ?

Thanks in advance for all your comments.

 

Some times if your heads have the push rod slots in the heads the slots have to be opened up when using 1.6 rockers

 

I agree with what Hinkson said and also I see you have center bolt rocker covers as well. I know some people have had to trim some of the support bracing inside the covers to clear some roller rockers. Also some roller rockers interfere with the actual bolt tubes. The manufactures should know if their rockers will clear 87 and later rocker covers. The best bet is to call before you buy.

 

Okay... forget the 1.6 roller rockers, I chose to go with 1.5's.
Does anyone know if 1.5 roller rokers with fit under the stock ribbed valve covers ?

 

I know that the scorpion narrow body ones will. Thats what Im running under stock 96 covers.

 

Still looking for an answer on this... the roller rockers i purchased are 1.5 Comp Cams Magnum roller rockers.

anyone ??

 

If you have stock heads that cam won't work without machine work to the heads. With 1.5 or 1.6 rockers.

 

That wasn't an answer to my question... besides, the motor is completely put together and already in the car.
Looks like I'll have to buy a set of tall valve covers and hope there's no issues with the AC compressor for clearance.

 

I have comp cam 1.6 rr.
I have stock valve covers. I had to bend some of the metal out of the way to make it fit.

 

They fit, I ran them with my LT4 hot cam in my 355. Not much bigger than the stock stamped steel rockers... no clearance issues

 

I tried to place them on with the roller rockers installed and noticed the bracing / supports for the center bolts are a little think and won't fit between the rocker arms.... bummer....

 

You'll have to cut/bend some material out of the way.

 

Yeah well..... I took the easy way out and ordered some tall valve covers. I just hope they fit !

 

Don't mind the bend in the cover

 

And i'm looking at...... ??

 

Showing you the valve cover I have and how I bent/cut the metal inside it to fit the roller rockers.

 

Yea, I'm not seeing a picture either but I'm veiwing from work where photobucket and like sites are blocked

 

Okay...
i considered dong this but I was running out of time. I need to get the car up and running already. I'm doing mos of the finishing touches during this week and as soon as the valve covers show up, i should be able to start the car, set timing, check for any leaks and finally get it to an exhaust shop to get the existing y-pipe fitted to the new headers.

 

So the new tall valve covers came in today... they won't go on due to the oil baffles. They're a little too wide and won't let the cover go down in between the roller rockers. So... it looks like I'll have to remove the baffles to make them work.

Do you guys see a problem with removing the baffles ??

 

Here's hoping you don't bend push rods and bust up valve seals.
Valve covers will be the least of your problems.
But yes, removing the baffles will cause oil to fly around and be sucked into the intake.

 

How am i going to bend pushrods with a .490 lift cam ?? That's baby cam lift range.

Then I'll have to buy some breathers and then pipe to the intake connections from the breathes.

 

Without machining on stock heads, they will only tolerate .460 lift

 

Are the heads modified or do you have different retainers to prevent retainer-to-valveseal interference? I think that's all Dyno was cautioning about.

 

Stock heads with new springs, retainers and valve seals. Aftermarket springs and retainers to match cam.

 

I was thinking they could handle a .480 lift but anything greater you would have to verify retainer to seal/guide clearance and coil bind height.

With the stock 305 heads on my 86 I replaced the springs and retainers with Crane's suggested parts and on the exhaust side I had to shim the spring more to get the proper install height and at .480 lift I still had room to spare between the retainer and seal. My intake lift was at .454 so I didn't verify the clearance on it. I did this back in 2004 so I don't remember the exact numbers on shim thickness or the clearance but everything still looks good on the top end after 9 years.