Favorite Big Block Roller Rockers

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CoDart

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Hey guys, looking for a little help. I’m putting my 383 back together after a long hiatus of sitting. I want to know thoughts and opinions on a good set of roller rockers. I am putting a hydraulic roller cam in the motor and I have Edelbrock RPM heads on the motor. It’s a 10.75 to 1 motor, have a cam with about 540 lift in it. any direction would be helpful. Going to be a hot street car, not a race car
 
I've read that iron and steel are the best way to go for street use, at least due to durability.
In 2013, Mancini racing had these aluminum rockers that were supposedly made by Harland Sharp even though HS put no identifying marks on them.

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I don't drag race but I do put street miles on them. The lash doesn't grow and they are still in place.
 
I've read that iron and steel are the best way to go for street use, at least due to durability.
In 2013, Mancini racing had these aluminum rockers that were supposedly made by Harland Sharp even though HS put no identifying marks on them.

View attachment 1716204044


View attachment 1716204043

I don't drag race but I do put street miles on them. The lash doesn't grow and they are still in place.

Are those bushed, or do they have needle bearings?
 
The rocker arms ride directly on hardened shafts. No needle bearings. The arms have no sleeves or bushings in them either.

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The Hughes rocker systems are also very nice and available in multiple ratios. Currently the 1.5 setup is $889. Not far off of a set of Comp or HS.

I have been tempted to buy a set of these for inspection and mock up:

Speedmaster 1-261-026 Speedmaster DNA Roller Rocker Arms | Summit Racing

With a 700psi max ring pressure rating this could be a good option for a hydraulic roller cam engine. The $319 price tag makes me skeptical.

The Mancini/HS rockers are on sale:

Mancini Racing Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm Kit
 
Thanks for the input so far. Why would it matter to have aluminum on the street? It’s not a daily driver.

Also, is prw a brand to stay away from? It looks like Mancini Racing has a stainless steel set, but in the picture it says prw.
 
I just installed a set of Rocker Arm Unlimited rockers on my big block. Have not run the motor yet but they seem pretty solid.

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The Hughes rocker systems are also very nice and available in multiple ratios. Currently the 1.5 setup is $889. Not far off of a set of Comp or HS.

I have been tempted to buy a set of these for inspection and mock up:

Speedmaster 1-261-026 Speedmaster DNA Roller Rocker Arms | Summit Racing

With a 700psi max ring pressure rating this could be a good option for a hydraulic roller cam engine. The $319 price tag makes me skeptical.

The Mancini/HS rockers are on sale:

Mancini Racing Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm Kit
These are the 1.5 Mancini rockers.

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The 1.6 ratio were just plain aluminum.
 
I probably cheaped out where I should not have but so far so good... I used proform rockers, they are bushed but they are aluminum which seems like a no no based on previous comments. I should have asked here first but so far so good. they setup nicely


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I just installed a set of Rocker Arm Unlimited rockers on my big block. Have not run the motor yet but they seem pretty solid.

View attachment 1716204116
Are these currently available?
Rocker Arms Unlimited won't open on my computer. I get a message saying the site is blocked. I have only seen these in a book several years ago and I thought they were no longer available when that book was published, although they looked a little different than yours.
 
"Aluminum" gets a bad rap. nothing wrong with aluminum rockers if they are quality pieces. 7075 T6 grade would be the premium pieces
I have run both needle bearing and bushed with success on other applications, the needle bearing units MUST be on a matching hardened shaft to work and last properly.
 
I run these, harland sharp 1.6 on my tf240s honestly I've broken 2 shafts and I guess if I would have called them I could have had them replaced by hs but I paid for them.
( I want to make sure to say that it was not the hs rockers shafts fault & I have not had any issues since I properly installed them. )

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Are these currently available?
Rocker Arms Unlimited won't open on my computer. I get a message saying the site is blocked. I have only seen these in a book several years ago and I thought they were no longer available when that book was published, although they looked a little different than yours.
They had a few sets on the shelf when I called last year. I believe the company was previously named Rocker Arm Specialties.
 
RAS are the best street rockers if you can find them. (and afford them). After that the next best is the Comp steel rocker arms. We put the Comps on most street engines that we build. I have RAS on my daily driver and T&D on the race engine. I've tested just about every kind of rocker arm available for the BB Mopar. There are some videos on my YouTube channel:
 
When I look at Mancini's website and look at the aluminum roller rockers they say right on the website that they are made by Harland Sharpe. So wouldn't be bad thing as for as I can tell. The stainless steel one's say PNW on them on the site picture. Thank you all for the information so far. See some solid options

Also, what is the main advantage of going to 1.6 rockers?
 
I have had good luck with these:

COMP Cams 1621-16 COMP Cams Pro Magnum Shaft Mount Roller Rocker Arms | Summit Racing

I am running a street grind solid roller cam that is about .660 net lift with 230 psi closed and 580 psi open spring pressures.
I also run these on Eddy heads with Hughes hold downs. Running a small street solid roller(.570 lift/250 [email protected]) 200ish psi on the seat and 500ish open. Street toy that's been together for 8-10 yrs with zero issues. Lash checks fine whenever I check it(which reminds me..I should pull the covers in spring....been a couple years...lol)
 
When I look at Mancini's website and look at the aluminum roller rockers they say right on the website that they are made by Harland Sharpe. So wouldn't be bad thing as for as I can tell. The stainless steel one's say PNW on them on the site picture. Thank you all for the information so far. See some solid options

Also, what is the main advantage of going to 1.6 rockers?
1.6 rocker arms speed up the valve action and adds duration at the higher lifts. If the cam is too small for your engine then adding rocker arm ratio can add power. If the cam is already the correct size then adding rocker ratio will not add power, in fact, it might reduce power slightly due to extra friction. I did a bunch of rocker arm dyno testing for Hot Rod where we showed that changing the rocker arm ratio did nothing if the cam was already correct.
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/trying-find-extra-power-rocker-arm-testing/
 
Here are the RAS rocker arms on my 470 dyno mule. I used this engine to do a lot of part testing. It was a sweet little engine, made more than 700 hp on pump gas with out of the box Trick Flow 240 heads. I think the compression was around 10:1 but I'd have to look it up. These engines usually make 600 hp with OOTB heads and pump gas compression but this engine had some "extra attention to the details" that was worth the additional 100 hp.
 
"Aluminum" gets a bad rap. nothing wrong with aluminum rockers if they are quality pieces. 7075 T6 grade would be the premium pieces
I have run both needle bearing and bushed with success on other applications, the needle bearing units MUST be on a matching hardened shaft to work and last properly.
The problem with aluminum rocker arms is that they break once they reach a certain number of cycles. Steel won't break if the load is below a certain level, but aluminum will always break. That is why OEM rocker arms are always steel. Racers get away with aluminum rocker arms since they don't run a bunch of cycles and because they replace them every few seasons. Street guys can run aluminum rockers if they don't drive very much. If you put a lot of miles on the car then eventually the aluminum rockers will break.
 
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