Speedmaster Stainless Rocker Arm Issues

Kim, rockers are the same expense regardless of the heads used so you can't count that as part of the price, unless it would have needed an offset rocker, such as a W2 or Indy -1. My point was that the money that was spent trying to bring the Speedmaster heads up to near the Trick Flow levels, and the ensuing problems, kept piling on the labor costs to the point where, after running the motor four times and it still wasn't fixed, it just became less costly to do the Trick Flow heads. The fifth run (with Trick Flows) was the charm and out the door it went. There was at least 1-1/2 times the cost of a set of Trick Flows in the Speedmaster heads, and I didn't charge for all my labor.

So, at least three people lost out on this deal. The owner, for his investment in heads he couldn't use, me, for the hours I didn't charge for, and the guy who did the head work, who, to his credit, offered to fix the heads of the issues. Ultimately, much money and time was lost that didn't need to be.

I have an analogy I use to illustrate a point. If you need to buy a part and you can get it for $100 or $150, which one do you buy? The obvious answer to everyone is the one for $100. But, if the $100 part only has a value of $50 and the $150 part has a value of $200, which one will you buy. Kinda changes the perspective a bit and you'd be surprised how many people can now afford the extra $50. Unfortunately, too many people stop at the first part and only see the initial cost. Many times, that cost ends up being much higher in the end. That isn't saying that expensive parts can't be poor quality. Sometimes it can be good quality materials but the design is terrible. That makes the value much less than the selling price and is especially true in the Mopar rocker arm world. It's just something that has to be figured out through much research and investigation.

I have no problem with frugality, and I realize that everyone has a budget. But paying more than somethings actual value is not frugal. If the cheaper part can be bought for $50, then that is frugal, as long as the quality remains the same. Paying $150 for the more expensive part is also frugal if the quality is valued at $200.