rockers warning

[clive f]

A few of you may remember that I fitted a new cam and rockers etc back in december, and found one of the pads on the rockers had broken off after only 400 miles.
the rockers that I bought were patent ones, and I replaced the broken one with another one, agreeing with the chap who supplied them to me that it must have been a one off dodgy manufactured item.

since then, I have always been worrying that it may happen again, so for piece of mind I ordered a set of steel rockers this week, and feeling bored this afternoon got the spanners out and removed the rockers and inlet manifold etc, ready to fit and set up the new ones, and low and behold I found this:-

[pic][/pic]

so my advice to anyone, who like myself, had to spend out and rebuild their top end,

only use original rover rockers, or steel ones,the rover ones do cost a lot more, but the possible damage done to your engine will be a lot more than the price of a decent rocker set!

[that daddy]

This engine does not rev hard enough to warrant the lower weight of the alloy rockers(unless anyone else proves otherwise,they wont),if i was replacing i would use standard rover steel ones,glad you dident suffer engine damage due to this that would be a crime on that motor you have.You would only benefit from the lower weight of the alloy rockers if your motor say revved to 7.5k plus then lower weight would benefit,but then i would be using roller rockers anyway.And you have been quick to right your motor thats something some people sometimes miss,but your motor will thank you for this in longer service life now.

[Ballistic Banana]

Bloody hell god job you got bored and worried Clive Andy wrote about and showed some good pictures of the damage to the top of teh valve stem. See HERE

BB

[mongoose]

If your going to change rockers,then roller rockers are the only way to go IMHO

[mongoose]

Quinny said:

As for roller rockers, very nice but can they really be justified on a pretty standard engine?
Not in my view, unless you like spending for the sake of it.

Agree,but when i recently enquired with my favourite RV 8 specialist,the current quality of steel rockers was poor,hence my recommendation for the roller rockers.The steel rockers used to be good(i used to make them),but i couldn't vouch for them now(our tooling went to China).I know the roller rockers are expensive,but they ultimately give you more valve lift too,and are a fit and forget item

[spend]

mongoose said:

....when i recently enquired with my favourite RV 8 specialist,the current quality of steel rockers was poor...tooling went to China...

Is'nt this the whole nub of this issue? Dodgy imports finding their way into the supply chain ~ nobody seems to be sure exactly which pattern parts are which! I dont think its fair to 'tar' all components with the same brush ~ many pads have been running in engines happily for many moons ~ so are the scares mainly down to dodgy replacements? I think you have to put this in perspective; is it a design fault or batches of bad quality components? IIRC have'nt a few suppliers frozen sales of pattern items and only sell genuine LR at the moment?

Dave

Edited by spend on Saturday 10th February 19:47

[mongoose]

spend said:

mongoose said:

....when i recently enquired with my favourite RV 8 specialist,the current quality of steel rockers was poor...tooling went to China...

Is'nt this the whole nub of this issue? Dodgy imports finding their way into the supply chain ~ nobody seems to be sure exactly which pattern parts are which! I dont think its fair to 'tar' all components with the same brush ~ many pads have been running in engines happily for many moons ~ so are the scares mainly down to dodgy replacements? I think you have to put this in perspective; is it a design fault or batches of bad quality components? IIRC have'nt a few suppliers frozen sales of pattern items and only sell genuine LR at the moment?

Dave

Very good comment Dave.I think the same as you.Steel rockers were always the cost effective and reliable way to go,but recently there has been some doubt it would seem.I can only imagine this is due to inferior products being available,as they were always tried and tested in the past.I've never really been a fan of the ally padded rockers,even the genuine ones,puely because of reliabilty.At the moment i just can't see past roller rockers as the only way to go,despite the increased cost

[clive f]

mike YHM

[mongoose]

Quinny said:

Out of interest Mike, what are the quality issues with the new steel ones?

As far as I can see they're just a lump of metal, nothing to fall off, and as long as lubed properly, they shouldn't wear out, should they

I'm not certain what the particular quality issues are with the latest steel ones Andy.I was told not to bother ,and to use either genuine ally ones or roller rockers by the RV8 specialist i trust.If i had to guess,i would imangine it might be due to poor/variable depth of 'chill' on the pad,but this would be a guess,based on my limited experience from manufacturing,as this was by far the most critical area of QC during manufacture,and it was what made the difference between a good rocker,and just another 'ok' one,if you see what i mean.
Things might well have changed by now,and a known good source of steel rockers might well be available again,so it's well worth checking the current status of the situation with V8D,or similar respected specialist i guess.

Edited by mongoose on Saturday 10th February 21:24

[clive f]

as far as I `m aware I think these steel ones come from the states.

[rev-erend]

So what roller rockers are people running ..

Kenne Belle
Yella Yerra
Crane

?

[dnb]

I didn't think Kenne Belle were available any more?

[rev-erend]

dnb said:

I didn't think Kenne Belle were available any more?

Correct.. but they do look nice and work just fine..


My new heads are being built with Crane roller rockers.. and 11.0 cr

[markh]

rev-erend said:

So what roller rockers are people running ..

Kenne Belle
Yella Yerra
Crane

?

Am running Tella Terra

[Gremlin500]

My standard Pre-Serp 500HC is needing a new cam kit, want to stay as original/reliable as possible, (and no managment re-tuning), where to go, and what to pay for the bits, what exactly do I need to replace? (Some mild cam ticking, 39K miles)
Thanks

[GreenV8S]

V8 Developments, you should get a cam, lifters and timing set.