I figured I should make this a new message thread..

Okay, so let me see if I've got this down-

You did have to put the top of the motor on, set lash, take the top of the motor off, put the valve covers on, and put the motor back together. What'd you do for intake gaskets for that "valve lash" run? Did you re-use the old ones, and then put new ones on at the end?

Was there a big improvement with the 1.52's? Well, I don't mean to ask if you found 50 HP, but could you tell the car got stronger? Did your Streetrunner chip have a fit? Have you gone thru emissions yet?

Were they the Comp Cams rockers, part #1413-12? Did you re-use the original rocker studs & nuts from your head? I imagine the springs were measured by a machine shop... did your friends tell you how much that would've cost if they charged?

Thank you!! That $109 ain't bad from Summit..

 

yeah they are the Crane ones.I used the same studs but the rockers come with new nuts.
I couldn't really feel any difference in power though.
The chip is doing fine.Atleast so far .Here in WV I don't have to worry about emissions.Lucky me!
As far as the gaskets,I did use the same ones.I was just carefull when I pulled it apart the second time.I did brake one between the lower plenum and the intake itself.But the father-in-law to be had some kind of glue for gaskets.As long as it worked I was happy.

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[This message has been edited by Kevin S (edited September 26, 2000).]

 

Cool, thanks! I have a new intake manifold gasket, left over from the "gasket kit" I bought to do my tb/plenum. I'll just re-use the others I don't have!

Good to know they come with new nuts, too.. I checked out the comp cam's website and noticed they said the 1.52 rockers were 50-state legal, so maybe that wouldn't hurt my Jersey emissions. (Altho the website said "50 state legal for 200ci and up"- I'm 173ci.. oops.)

Since you didn't feel a difference, is this a mod you'd not recommend? It's appealing to me now because it's relatively cheap, and I'm running out of things to do


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

 

I would recommend it.The reason I didn't notice much was I added them when we rebuilt the engine.I did gain more hp and tq but I also bored the engine at the same time.I know the rockers helped but I can't say how much.

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[This message has been edited by Kevin S (edited September 27, 2000).]

 

Let me see if I can be of some help since I just went through this ordeal myself.

I too installed the 1.52s.


On the first run I did it, the car ran like ****... studdered and stalled....


I ended up having to redo the valve lash (did it wrong the first time).

In any case, here is what I was told. Get rid of all valve play by tightening down the rocker arm JUST to the point at which you can no longer freely spin and rotate the pushrod with your finger. After this is done, you will want to tighten the rocker arm 1 and 1/2 turns. Thats IT!!!... no more, no less. IF... by any chance, you feel the tightening getting HARDER.. then back it out till everything is loose (just on that one of course) and start OVER again.

There is a very special order in which you need to accomplish this of course... you will want to follow the order from either the Haynes or Chilton's manual. The first process will be half the valves, a mix between intake and exhaust, and it will need to be done with the #1 piston at top dead center. You can tell if #1 piston is at TDC because the notch on the harmonic balancer will be at the top.. in addition, neither the intake or exhaust valve on that cyl will move within a full quarter turn of the harmonic balencer in any direction. If they do move at all when the notch at the harmonic balancer is at the top, then it means it's at the wrong engine stroke, and you will probably need to rotate it again another 360 degrees.

Once this whole set is done, it will want you to set the #4 piston at TDC.. I think this is pretty easy because if I remember correctly, the way you do that is just rotate the harmonic balancer another 360 degrees from TDC of #1 piston.

Make sure you set your timing right too when You've got it all together.

In an automatic.. you will need to put a socket wrench on the nut on the belt pulley on the crank, with a manual.. simply put it in gear and try to roll it.

Todd

 

Kevin- oh, well that's a good reason for not knowing then!! I thought you just added them alone with no other changes. Good, maybe I'll notice a difference. It'd be nice to put them on by themselves, and in the summer, put on some ported heads and re-use the 1.52 rockers.

Todd- Thanks for that info! I just saved it to disk. So you didn't have to put the motor together and start it just to set lash, eh? Hmmm...

And I have still more questions for the both of you!

Did you notice any extra noise from the lifters?

Did they come with any kind of CARB E.O notification sticker?

How were the instructions?

Are these "new" rocker nuts they include different than the stock? If I put these on, then later switch them to a set of ported heads, I wonder if I'll have to buy Crane's nuts again, or just go to the GM dealer.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

 

No.....No.....and the instructions where ok.There isn't much to them though.You just remove the old and replace with the new.
The nuts look just like the ones I took off.I say you could goto GM and buy new ones.But I wouldn't think it would be a problem to reuse them.


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[This message has been edited by Kevin S (edited September 28, 2000).]

 

I'm not sure what you mean by starting the car? I did start the car after I had put everything together the first time.. thats what told me everything was screwed up!

But as far as running it while trying to tighten the rocker arms... no.. definately don't do that. If you do the procedure properly everything should be ok. Just follow the rules I showed you above, and follow the order as shown in the Haynes or Chilton's manual.


The roller tipped lifters actually REDUCE noise... they create less noise, and less friction. That right there.. you don't GAIN horsepower, but the less friction allows the revs to gain quicker which allows you to accelerate quicker with the same horsepower (not by much, but it does help)... BUT.. the fact that the roller rockers ARE 1.52:1 ratio.. you will see an improvement in horsepower. Considering the OEM rocker arms are SUPPOSED to be 1.5s but always end up being somewhere around 1.4-1.5 because of poor stamping.. the 1.52s will help out noticably. I would expect you'll gain maybe 5 horsepower out of it.. you'll see it more or less in the mid to top end. But you'll also get a little better fuel economy and less friction... which of course means less heat and less wear on the oil too.

They are perfectly legal in all states too.

Todd

 

I had thought valve lash was supposed to be set with the valve covers off & engine running, and I see no way to get the valve covers off without removing the top of the motor. But like you said, I guess our 2.8's have a special routine for setting lash. Good, I really didn't want to get squirted with oil!

Thanks again guys... I'm really liking this idea!


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

 

I do know that on the L4 in my 1984 Fiero 2m4 SE, I am supposed to set it with the valve cover off.. do one, and then test it.. and then turn it off.. and do the other.

On ours, it IS very different. To say that it was a pain in the *** would be putting it mildly. Basically... doing it the way I mentioned, you have to do like... half the valves on one engine stroke... this will include a mix of intake and exhaust valves (the book will tell you), they HAVE to be done in this order for some reason.. I didn't do it in that order and figured.. ahh.. I can do it any old which way my own way.. and it didn't work.

Then the next stroke, you do the remaining valves.

Todd