Wow. Yeah I didn't want to order everything and throw those rods in and have them lose or something.
So adding the locks helps bump the lift up from .450 to .500. Would it be safer to get the different springs or same with the springs or locks?
Does milling the heads add more compression?

 

The locks don't bump lift it.. Only the camshaft or rocker arms can do that.. Not trying to be a smartass, just putting clear info out there.

The locks will change the installed height of the valvespring. +.050" locks will give you .050" more clearance between retainer and guide.

Vortec heads are lift limited due to retainer to guide clearance. I have set up many pairs of vortec heads and can tell you, they are not all the same.. I have seen some stock that only had clearance for .450", then I have measured others that gave good clearance for .480" lift.

The stock vortec valve springs are pure trash. The cam kit I linked to for you, already has the springs with it and they are what you need.. Remove the flat inner damper springs out of them before you install. The vortecs have large OD guides and the damper spring will hit, the guides are also so big they kinda act like a damper anyway.

Yes milling heads lowers the chamber size and that will raise compression. Vortecs are listed as 64cc heads but every set I have CC'ed has been 62/63cc

Flat mill .006" = 1cc

 

Ok no not being a smart *** just me being curious and asking questions to learn more.

So no matter what get the old springs off and have better ones.

Should I get the heads milled to up compression?

 

Ya I read the article too but my springs did not fit my heads so I would not consider them a drop in to all vortecs, mine did not fit. I should have took a picture but I was in the middle of the build and it was about 11 at night and I was pissed as all hell. I only have a pic of the new springs in the head after machine work. By boss was .9"

 

No, you shouldn't need to mill the vortec heads. You said you have a stock GM goodwrench engine. Those engines have pistons #12514101 which are around 12cc

Use a fel pro 1094 4.100 x .015 head gaskets and the vortec heads. That will put you around 9.5 to 9.7:1 compression which is right on for a good street engine.

Yeah the vortec springs goes away unless your using a stock low lift cam with like .410" lift or less

 

What do you mean by boss was .9"?

 

Those gaskets can be found at summit or competition?

 

Yep.
At summit $22.97 each (need 2) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-1094/overview/

At CP. $22.99 each (need 2) http://www.competitionproducts.com/F.../#.VOUUkObF_bM

 

Ok so I'm getting ready to order everything. Should I get rockers? Roller rockers? Or something if so what ratio?

 

Roller rockers. Self aligning if you are not using guide plates. 1.5 if you think you have enough lift 1.6 if you need a little more

 

Is there anything else you need more or can spend the money on to improve the car?

IMHO aftermarket rocker arms are tuning tools and last ditch effort to get max power out of engine, but it seems like they are one of the 1st things many people add.

For a mild engine, the best rockers on the market is only going to gain you 15-20 HP at the very best and can cost you $300-450. I do not see it worth while untill everything else has been done.

Roller tip rocker arms will not gain you much of anything nor will they help much to reduce wear, stress, etc.. The best thing about them are the facts that they have long slots so you can run into the .500's inch lifts w/o binding on studs and their ratios are true unlike GM stock ones

 

I'm just curious because I came across these and figured they were pretty cheap unlike what you said 300-400

 

I would get some 1.5 ratio self align roller rockers if you get rockers. Night rider is right there are things you could spend your money more wisely on though. If your running the stock 700R4 it would be money better spent if you modded it a little. A stall converter and shift kit would be better than roller rockers. Nothing more intimidating then your tires chirping when you shift gears.

 

You do NOT want to cheap out if/when you buy roller rockers. You can google roller rocker failure and see what I'm talking about. I have seen it 1st hand a few times... It aint pretty.

The cheap, off brand/no name brand rockers are not strong enough and breaks at the fulcrum. When that happens it sends all those tiny steel needle/roller bearings through out your engine, where they destroy your rod/main bearings, oil pump, crank, cam, lifters, etc.

The only full roller rockers I will ever recommend someone to use, or use myself are...
Howards billet alum purple
Scorpion
Harland sharp
Crane gold race
Comp cams ultra gold
Comp cams ultra pro mag
Comp cams
Crower enduro stainless

For roller tip rockers it would be Elgin and Comp cams magnum

You also need to look at type of rockers needed.. You can not double guide your pushrods. If you are using heads like vortecs then they do not use the slot in head to guide the pushrod. The tip of the rocker arm has "tabs" on each side to get the rocker square on valvestem. This is known as a self aligning rocker arm.
You can not use non self aligning rockers on those types of heads, be cause nothing would be there to guide the pushrods/rockers on the valves. You would need to have heads machined to use guide plates.

On the other hand, if you have heads with the guide slots in heads (or guide plates) you can not use a self alining rocker arm as you would be trying to double guide it and cause binding.

Also some heads and valve cover combos will also need a narrow body rocker arm to clear the cover standoffs.

I can not see the rockers real good in your picture but they look to be no name brand, non self aligning, std. or wide body rockers

 

Your better off using stock parts than skimping and going cheep. And like niterider said vortecs or center bolt heads need self align rockers and pre 86 heads do not. Don't double guide your rockers either. Those are not self align rockers.

 

I feel that people are only looking at roller rockers from a max lift point of view. without realizing the other benefits of them, such as . reduced friction, lower oil temps, they add stability to the valve train. more accurate valve timing. the point is ,they have a purpose beyond max lift. their benefits go far beyond just that aspect.

 

Ok. So hold off on the rockers and get everything else ordered and put together. I was just thinking that would be another thing that could help seeing how all this will be new parts going in.

Knight rider, 10second hopeful do you know off the top of your head what the valve sizes are on the 062 vortec heads?

 

What about some recommended roller rockers?

I found this carb, with electric or manual choke? Is this the right one? I know we were talking about 650cfm.
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/.../thunder.shtml

 

1.94/1.50" valves, 11/32" stem on the vortec heads.. Do not think the "small" valves are a bad thing. The 1.94/1.50" valve size is fine for 450 HP and under.

Rusty.. I well aware of all the benifits from rocker arms, and I never mentioned anything about peak lift.

I still stand behind what I said.. You will only gain 10-20 HP at very best from them. Stability is NOT an issue on mild engines and really a 7/16" stud should be the 1st thing you look at for stability on higher HP/higher RPM engines even before the rockers.

I look at the bang for the buck.. $300 for 15 HP with rockers is not a good deal UNLESS everything else has been took care of.

I built my car in 2004. Street and track use since, it was just in 2009 that I went to roller rockers. Even still the main reason for that was stud size. I upgraded alot of parts, went with a 249/252@.050" .570"/.579" lift solid cam and needed 7/16" rocker studs. At that point, you have to have new rockers so I went with a full roller rocker.

Don't get me wrong... I do think roller rockers are better and a needed thing but at what point.. If you still have stock Y pipe, or manifolds, or stock intake, crappy heads, low compression, high gear, open rear, stock torque converter, etc etc etc then work on those items 1st as you will see bigger gains from those, then look at the high dollar, small power gain items like roller rockers

 

The only full roller rockers I will ever recommend someone to use, or use myself are...
Howards billet alum purple
Scorpion
Harland sharp
Crane gold race
Comp cams ultra gold
Comp cams ultra pro mag
Comp cams
Crower enduro stainless

For roller tip rockers it would be Elgin and Comp cams magnum.

I used Elgin stamp steel roller tips on my camaro egine from 2004 to 2009, I'm running Howards billet alum full rollers on my camaro since 2009.

I'm running comp cams magnum roller tip rockers on my V8 S10.

The reason for the elgins and comp roller tips.. I already had the Elgins so I used what I had.

Then when I built my S10's engine I picked up used vortec heads as a package deal. Got heads, comp roller tip rockers, performer intake, chrome valve covers for $350.

 

Knight Rider I couldnt find these gaskets anywhere. Fel pro MS 98000 T intake gaskets, you know where to get them?

So what ratio are we shooting for? These arent too expensive
http://www.summitracing.com/search?S...0tip%20rockers

Ill figure out what length pushrods I need when I get the pushrod checker in the mail

 

Everyone should sell them. I bought my last few sets at advance auto parts. It's one of the high $$ options that pulls up when they put in any of the vortec truck 5.7L. I tell them 1997 chevy 1500 truck with the 5.7L engine.

Here you go.. Just about any place you want to buy from

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/f...0-t/15780793-P

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...yword=ms98000t

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-ms98000t

http://www.autozone.com/external-eng...gasket/615359/

http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/x,cata..._MS98000T.html