Priobe Phil Looking at your pictures, IMO the pushrod is too long causing the possible rubbing of the rocker arm. I think you said you where cranking the motor over to start and this happened, Yes , No, Maybe?? any way there are 2 different size cups, 5/16" and 3/8" same with the lifter end, 5/16" balls and 3/8" ball. Lengths of pushrods with stock setups I have 5 different lengths. There are alot of variables here.
I run a 5/16" ball and 3/8" cup on custom length Smith brothers push rods. I know Gessford and George and Neil. They are big fans of running solid lifter camshafts in there motors. They also know the limits of these parts better than most anyone else. Kuntz and KCR would be the other 2 shops here on this forum.
My first set of Doves had an oiling issue with My 452 Shelby motor. Aluminum wear on the bottom of the rocker arms. I was running a 501-533 lifter hydro camshaft with the stock springs that came on the Shelby heads. I don't think the spring had over 425 of open pressure. I never tested them. I was told to try this to see if it helped the problem, cut a .030" groove in the center of the rocker body to help with oiling problem, It helped but from the rubbing issues of the aluminum on a steel shaft the rockers got out of round on the shafts. .003" is not alot be enought to cause rocker failure and have them break. This was the standard Dove units. I ran standard pushrods from Ford
The second set was the Heavyduty ones with heavy duty shafts and FFP end stands for more support. Still running the same camshaft. I did take the time to get the right length pushrods from Smith brothers. I also shimmed the stands to get the correct hieght on all 4 from end to end. Machine shim metal strips of .005" -.020". I ran the motor for 2 years this way and had no problems until The shaft snapped between 7 & 8 cylinders. Ripped out the top of the port and the helicoil had come loose, rockers had also chewed up on the shaft. There where no limiters in the heads and had plenty of
oil for the heads. IMO relying on a film of
oil at a low pressure area will over time cause a wearing problem. You have to remember that just because you have 60psi of
oil pressure on the gauge doesn't mean that the rockers are getting 60 psi. More like 1/2 or less depending on clearances of the bottom end of the motor. between 20-30 psi is a good guess. Here is the points,
First I am not a fan of solid lifters, even rollers with pressurized oil for a street car.
second I don't like anything in my motor than has a hot or cold clearance that is not .000" Air gaps between pushrods,rockers, and lifters cause hammering, kind of looks like what is in your pictures. I wonder who's valves those are in your motor. I have not seen a set of Ferria( not sure on the spelling) valve get that kind of wear pattern with low milage. The oil if sprayed in the correct location acts as a cushion to slow down metal on metal hitting, Over the long haul, either the valve stem end, rocker arm roller, pushrod ends or the lifter is going to get hammered and wear out once the harden surface is compermized.
You can point the finger at everyone, starting with your self, How many times did you check and set the valve lash? Your engine assemblier who didn't check to see how close the clearance was between pushrod and rocker location. Was the valve drive geometery of centering the rocker done or just winging it? IMO Dove has a weak design of rocker arms at a 1.75 ratio. They sell 1.5 and 1.6 ratio that doesn't stress out the parts as bad as 1.75 and up. I have no luck, and have to over build everything I run. I have run Ersons for 3 years, next motor is getting T&D. Next motor will be about 650 ft of torque, 100 more than any normal cobra needs. This motor will also have 2 things, Gessford Build and the top of the line parts. Harlan Sharps would be the only other rocker setup I might have used from all the others with the 4 bolt setup. In time this will pass and the problem will be solved.
Phil there have been alot of threads on Dove parts over the years, I had problems with them and getting an intake manifold for 10 months and 2 trips to visit. If Dove stands behind there product, send them back and they should be covered for a manufacturing issue. If not you may want to look in another direction. Any part on these motors can be broken, snapped, split, etc, is abused enough or the wrong setup is done dueing building and assembly work. You are upset, Talk to Dove. If they cover for the rocker damage and give you new parts keep running them if you like. Me I would hang them on the wall for a STOCK motor build and go to Erson. I have 1 set hanging on the wall, learn by failures. Rick L.