Rocker shaft supports for FE motors

[RICK LAKE]

HI GUYS. I lost the info I had on a person that is building rocker stands I believe from over seas. You mailed me pictures of the assembly. They cost 400.00$ Could you E-Mail me PLEASE for the info and a number I can reach you at? This was a Two Piece assembly that needed no machine work to the heads. Thanks Rick Lake p.s. I would loose my head if not for crazy glue

[ERA535]

Rick - if you mean the stands that the rocker shafts ride in, Dove sells them.

[Steve Jones]

Rick,
The thread containing that discussion is on page 2 of this forum under the title of Ford Performance Parts Rocker Shaft Stands. I was impressed with the setup, especially for the price.

Steve

[MIKE KENNEY]

I have a complete set of Dove rockers, shafts and end stands I would sell if you are interested.

Mike

NOS Motorsports
Shop: 520-568-3228
Cell: 602-790-5856

[ERA 626]

I Bought billett rocker stands, spacers & end stands for my FE from a shop named Precision Oil Pumps, his name is Doug Garifo
Ph# 559-645-1951
Very nice guy and makes a good product

[RickLee]

Contact Doug at Precision oil Pumps. I have his stands with the Shelby stainess setup. Great Guy!!

[Jon Miller]

OK Guys, I give up........What's wrong with the stock Ford rocker setup????

My Edelbrock heads arrived this week and the instructions even reccomend an upgraded rocker assembly.......

I've got a set of NOS stands, and I do need to upgrade to adjustable rockers, but before I spend a small fortune on one of those cool looking Shelby, Dove, Etc setups that will only get covered up and never be seen except at adjustment time could someone please be so kind as to tell me why.

Thank you in advance,
Jon Miller

p.s. I'm not building a race car so the fact that "It'll be good for 10 extra horsepower" is not very imporant to me. If, on the other hand, it's the only way to keep the pistons and valves from crashing into each other, well that would be a good reason to spend the money.......But then why don't they crash into each other with the stock setup???? This is much too confusing...

[ERA535]

Jon,

The valve spring pressures are a lot higher on a performance engine - therefore much more stress on the rocker arms and shafts.

There are those (you know who you are ) who say it is the increased revs also - but I don't think todays FE's are revving much higher than they did in the 60's and 70's.

That is my opinion.

[chopper]

Jon Miller:

The problem with the stock shaft supports is that they do not adequately support the outboard rocker arms. If you look at RickLee's picture, the units have supports on the extreme ends of each shaft; the stock units do not have these supports. With the stock system, the outboard rocker arm is essentially rotating on a cantilever beam, resulting in the shaft outboard of the stand flexing during operation. This causes the valve geometry to change, especially under high rpm, resulting in the valve opening less than design. The aftermarket units use additional stands to support the outboard ends of the shaft and eliminate the flexing of the stock rocker shaft. This helps maintain the proper geometry for the outboard valves during operation.

I have a set of Dove rocker shafts and stands, holding a set of Harland Sharpe aluminum rocker arms. I had Dove rocker arms originally, but discovered that the Dove aluminum rocker arms for the FE engines do not have bushings installed. This results in the bare aluminum rocker arms riding on the steel shafts. My experience (which may be different from some others) was that the aluminum rocker arms failed after less than a thousand miles of relatively mild driving. At the first valve adjustment following installation (about 500 miles), all of the clearances were at least twice the original settings. At the second valve adjustment (1,000 miles), half of the rocker arms were worn well beyond any acceptable tolerance, and two had slop around the shaft hole exceeding an eight of an inch. When I called Dove, they told me that was their "standard design" for the FE engines and that lots of folks run the bare aluminum rocker arms with no problem. Short story, they refused to do anything about it. I threw away the Dove rocker arm garbage and installed the Harland Sharpe units, which have bronze bushings pressed into the arms. So far, 3000 miles later, no problems at all.

IMHO, as long as you don't exceed 5,000 rpm or so, you should have no problems. If you have a hot cam or rev above 5 grand, you may want to consider the aftermarket units.

[a427sc]

Jon

When I was running a MILD 428, a well known builder told me not to bother with a lot of the fancy valve train parts. He recommended stock steel rocker stands in the center, Dove end stands (for the same reason Chopper speaks of), new shafts but not necessarily the hardened ones, and stock type adjustable rockers for both solid or hydralic lifters . Check the rocker/valve contact pattern for proper alignment and correct valve train orientation, and check for spring binding under full lift.
Then you will be good to go. I ended up running the motor pretty hard, 6500rpm for short bursts, and never had a single valvetrain related problem.

McFEZ

[Joe Rutledge]

Jon,
There is nothing wrong with the stock type rocker arms for a "mild" engine, other than bragging rights. I am assuming a few things: not an extremely high lift cam (lets say 550 lift or less), target shifting rpm around 5400 to about 6000 rpm (above that is not "mild") and new or reconditioned rocker arms. The adjusting nut on used "Original" ford arms often gets loose with age. Adjusting a solid cam on a FE is a distinct pain, so you do not want it to be a more frequent event than required. If you are using a hydro cam, you should only have to adjust once... Remember, Ford used these buggers in NASCAR racing with 600 lift cams. Modern valve train components are better, and look better, but...
I used a set of these in various FE motors with 500ish lift cams for years with no problems (428 to 427HR to 390 - same set).
One upgrade to consider would be to replace the stock spacer springs between the rockers with one of the many solid spacers sold. It usually ends up giving you better valvetrain control and a couple or 3 HP @ about 5500rpm.
I think that the stock 427 engine qualified as a performance engine, 500 lift, 300 advertised duration, RPM range 5500 - 6000 for shifting. (I can not equate the duration to a modern number off the top of my head).