Letting one of my secerts out of the bag...
#31
Picked up my free set of rockers from a local shop on friday. Picked up a couple cobalt bits which are advertised to be able to handle the hardened steel. We'll see how that works out....
Seems there is a little confusion for some. You will not be drilling the head, you drill the hole in the rocker out to the LT1 rocker stud size. The LS1 does not use studs but rather a bolt which is smaller diameter than the LT1 stud.
I spoke with two local shops in my area and both feel that the pushrod size should not change. It was suggested to check that the rocker is correctly aligned with the valve tip. I'll be checking it out this week so I'll post pics of what I find.
My valve springs are good to .600 and my cam @ 1.7 will go to .589
Seems there is a little confusion for some. You will not be drilling the head, you drill the hole in the rocker out to the LT1 rocker stud size. The LS1 does not use studs but rather a bolt which is smaller diameter than the LT1 stud.
I spoke with two local shops in my area and both feel that the pushrod size should not change. It was suggested to check that the rocker is correctly aligned with the valve tip. I'll be checking it out this week so I'll post pics of what I find.
My valve springs are good to .600 and my cam @ 1.7 will go to .589
#33
if you have a good relationship with a shop, it's likely they'll just give you a set. I had another guy tell me $20 for a set that came off his car. I'm keeping tabs on that second set incase I screw up the free ones.
#34
So here I sit with the rockers drilled out and ready to go on. I'm short the guideplates though and I'm guessing that by the looks of the rocker tip that these rockers are NSA. I knew I was forgetting something so it looks like it'll have to wait until later this week when I can get guideplates. I'll grab some pics today to show the valve tip alignment though since I've already got the covers off and one of my 1.6 rockers removed.
#36
moving on....forgot I had another set of heads here from my 97 that have guideplates and hardened pushrods. Back on track for a completion today. pics of valvetip alignment coming soon. Just gotta figure out how to make sure the guideplates are lined up correctly before I go tightening things down.
#38
making decisions on the fly here but the heads from my 97 have the upgraded 7/16 studs so I'm going to swap them out but I'll have to redrill the LS1 rockers out to 7/16...already have the bit here so that won't be too bad. Just going to take a little longer today. Pics so far below....
Valvetip alignment with stock 3/8 studs
3/8 vs 7/16 stud comparison
LT1 1.6 RR vs LS1 stock 1.7
Back to the drill for a while....
Valvetip alignment with stock 3/8 studs
3/8 vs 7/16 stud comparison
LT1 1.6 RR vs LS1 stock 1.7
Back to the drill for a while....
#43
your missing the point....
I love how you can interchange parts across GM's. My car has brakes, rear, DS, Engine, Tranny,Dash Gauges, fuel tank, etc.. all from different year camaros, Impala's, Corvettes...
Add LS1 rockers to another factory swap part
#44
do a quick search on "cam bearings" and see how many people have had issues after upgrading the cam on a higher mileage motor. Yes, some of those are install errors but putting a new cam on old bearing is not always a good idea. Some get away with it, some don't.
This is the reason I went this route. The cam I have now is the second one I've had on these bearings and I was a little worried about wiping them out. I won't be going back into this motor again until I do a rebuild so this is what I wanted to do for a little extra on the combo I have now. I had everything I needed to do this and got the rockers for free. I'm only out the cost of the bits and a can of cutting lube. $35 total to go from .556 to .589
This is the reason I went this route. The cam I have now is the second one I've had on these bearings and I was a little worried about wiping them out. I won't be going back into this motor again until I do a rebuild so this is what I wanted to do for a little extra on the combo I have now. I had everything I needed to do this and got the rockers for free. I'm only out the cost of the bits and a can of cutting lube. $35 total to go from .556 to .589