Problem with Harland Sharp rockers

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68 Sedan

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I was asked if I would start a thread here about this. I cannot say if HS has done anything to keep this from happening again, but this was my experience several years back......

I had my fingers all oily in Ron Mancini's 62 Max Wedge motor once. Was in Atlanta. That's when I decided I'd never run Harland Sharp rockers in any of my motors, cause they were the cause of his motor going poof.

The HS rockers are really thick...or at least they used to be. They were so thick (how, thick, were they) They were so thick the bottom of them were cut in a crescent to clear the valve spring retainers. They really should have "square" cut them. cause what happened in Ron's motor was one (or more) of them "walked" and tried to push the valve open by using the bottom of the rocker on the spring retainer. This obviously allowed the keeper to pop out and bad things happened.

Could this be avoided by using a lock ring between the rockers? Yeah, probably if you had an idea something like this might happen if you didn't. but in this case it did.

So there ya go. Like I said. I have NO idea if they have done anything to the design to keep this from happening or not. But this is what really happened to a long time racer who knows what he is doing. Yet it still went bad.
 
this is something that needs to be checked on every set of rocker arms...it is a common problem and I have learned to double check every one for clearance and alignment.... even if you are only changing the springs and retainers...check every thing twice !!!
 
...what 68gts340 said.....rockers don't move side to side if their checked and shimmed properly.....race folks know this
when did this happen? 2008...2007
 
Was a number of years ago, before I had my Challenger done and at the big races. Probably 2000 maybe? And Ron Mancini ain't no dummy. This is the same Ron Mancini who worked for Mopar.......Mancini racing (which he has nothing to do with any more) etc etc.

The thing is there is/was a problem with these. Being an engineer @ Chrysler and his family's racing history I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I was there. I had my fingers in his motor, and I saw the carnage with my own eyes. All I'm saying is if anyone wants to use these (or possibly any other like rockers) they need to see if they are made so the same thing could possibly happen to them under the proper circumstances
 
The reason I ask is the Crane Golds come with spacers. I combine the spacers with shims and billet shaft hold downs from Hughes until I get .020 side clearance on the rockers and have the roller centered perfectly over valve stem.

All clearances were checked with a solid lifter before final assembly.

Engine.jpg
 
That is a much better system than what HS was providing at that time
 
the problem occured in 2000.....?????
how many folks do you rekon have used these since then??
and why all the "alarm" just now?
8 years is a long time not to warn us........your FABO buddies...
is there anything else?
 
Look when I registered. I haven't been here all that long. And I just mentioned this incident in another thread when I said I met Ron Mancini. Someone asked me to post this in the engine issues section, so I did. I can't say I was showing any "alarm" over it either. As far as "anything else" goes, I've been working on Mopars for more than 37 years. And at the risk of inviting "old" jokes, I've probably forgotten more about Mopars than a lot here presently know about them.

Any other questions?
 
mrbill00 said:
the problem occured in 2000.....?????
how many folks do you rekon have used these since then??
and why all the "alarm" just now?
8 years is a long time not to warn us........your FABO buddies...
is there anything else?
Click to expand...

FABO in it's present form hasn't even been around for 8 years. I was the one to ask if 68Sedan would post this as I feel that this is important information to share with our members and I didn't want to step on the thread that it originally came up on.

Lighten up, it's a Friday. :)
 
Thanks for the notice... But like was said, all rockers do that of they are not set up right, OR a larger sping and retainer combo on a taller valve, or a deeper seat, or a set of rocker shaft support blocks is used. Not to mention, at high rpm, the springs are moving around and deforming much more than most think. I'd bet (being one of those who I'm sure you've forgotten more than...) the reason they hit was a non-standard spring/retainer package. And hitting like that, regardless of name, is the builder's oversight. Mistakes happen to the best of us/them.
 
ok, ok...i'll give ya 2008...i don't look at those things....
i, and some of my friends, have been running H&S with no problems and if there is an issue with product quality, we would like to know...yes that is important to share if it represents a trend...anyones parts can fail do to operator error
and i don't know that much about these cars , i just started in 1967, thxs
your right...let's do friday.....
 
I wish I had one of these rockers to show what the bottom was cut like. True, and rocker "could" do it, but the way these were made, they would open the valve using the retainer long before a stock rocker would. The bottom was cut in a circle so it was form fit around the retainer. The engine builder didn't do that. It wasn't operator error. It's the way the rockers were made.

The design sucked. As delivered their operation sucked. The guy running them weren't no amateur. Just a driveline engineer for Chrysler. But I'm sure you're right. It was his fault these rockers were made the way they were and destined to torch a motor that had already been run with them.

IF the failure had happened the first time the motor was fired I could believe your theory about wrong retainers etc. But it had been run before so that theory don't hold water
 
That problem happens with more than just HS rockers. I've had to modify some higher dollar stuff than that, T&D, and some cheaper, Cranes, because of spring/retainer interference. It's hit and miss and really depends on a lot of factors whether any grinding is required.

I tend to run beehive springs now and the issue is pretty much resolved. Get to leave rockers the way they were engineered and have a slightly lighter spring/retainer set up.
 
Sorry, but something else was going on. My friend ran Harland Sharp rockers for many seasons in a 400 in his Road Runner. It made many passes down the strip, buzzing it to 7500. The engine had a .750 lift Comp Cam roller in it.

Even when it was over-revved when he let a friend drive it down the track once, it banged u p the rockers a bit and bent a few valves, but the motor didn't completely grenade.
 
68 or ram..i have a pic of one but don't know how to attach.
pic is from the underside showing the "arch"
 
One the good side, they look hell for stout, on the bad side the way it's machined on the bottom requires a very careful look when setting up.

Good info guys, thank you.
 
Couldn't tell ya. We pulled the valve covers right there in the motel parking lot and found the dropped valve. If the problem was caused by a rocker not being bored square we couldn't have told there unless it was a really obvious misalignment. There was no fixing the car at that point, so it was Miller time.
 
Again this issue isn't the sole playing field of HS rockers... There are plenty of other rockers on the market that have or had the same issue. Yes people have/had issues with HS rockers and the fix has been known for a LONG time.

The ONLY rockers I've used that had NO issues with retainer clearance are Jesels at $1400/set.

I have other issues with HS rockers, but that's another thread. 8)
 
crackedback said:
Again this issue isn't the sole playing field of HS rockers... There are plenty of other rockers on the market that have or had the same issue. Yes people have/had issues with HS rockers and the fix has been known for a LONG time.

The ONLY rockers I've used that had NO issues with retainer clearance are Jesels at $1400/set.

I have other issues with HS rockers, but that's another thread. 8)
Click to expand...

Hey, come on! This is the perfect thread for HS issues, lol! Don't keep us guessing.
 
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