[steve25]

Thank you Paul.

[67Lemons]

Well that’s disappointing but par for the course, so every rocker has issues no matter what you spend? I guess what matters is how many issues & when or what as in how much spring pressure, sure is getting tough to build a basic street motor without spending the most money for every part to hopefully not have any failures, welcome to 2025 I guess.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by 67Lemons

Well that’s disappointing but par for the course, so every rocker has issues no matter what you spend? I guess what matters is how many issues & when or what as in how much spring pressure, sure is getting tough to build a basic street motor without spending the most money for every part to hopefully not have any failures, welcome to 2025 I guess.

It's ridiculous, a friend just sent pictures of several busted TOP SHELF rocker arms..... They have two passes and idle time on them.... Something is seriously screwed up and half the world is completely worried about the wrong things.

[67Lemons]

I have to say, it’s getting harder & harder to get, be or stay involved with this hobby. Besides the financial issues with loving these old cars it’s getting harder & harder to stay positive about it when you can’t get a good part & whatever you get costs a fortune & you know is a gamble on whether it will work or not.

[AG]

I run HS 1.65s on my race motor and have run Crower aluminum 1.5s with 720# open pressure without issue. I have a set of new Crane Pro Race and they are beefier than my HS rockers.

[Jay S]

Keep in mind Harlan Sharp has HD versions and Original versions. The HD version has more rugged bodies.

Harlan Sharp and Crower both offer rebuild services. I have had great customer service from Harlan Sharp. Those things count for something with me for HS and Crower.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by 67Lemons

I have to say, it’s getting harder & harder to get, be or stay involved with this hobby. Besides the financial issues with loving these old cars it’s getting harder & harder to stay positive about it when you can’t get a good part & whatever you get costs a fortune & you know is a gamble on whether it will work or not.

I agree and feel the same way.

Try making a living in this mess. On top of it you have to compete with the Internet and buyers wanting the World's cheapest price. I'm a direct dealer for MSD/Holley and every month I receive a "do not sell" list from Holley. They close the account of vendors advertising for less than their suggested list price. About half the sellers on the list are from Amazon.

[ponchjoe]

Originally Posted by 67Lemons

I have to say, it’s getting harder & harder to get, be or stay involved with this hobby. Besides the financial issues with loving these old cars it’s getting harder & harder to stay positive about it when you can’t get a good part & whatever you get costs a fortune & you know is a gamble on whether it will work or not.

I agree with you, it is a crap shoot with most parts these days. I cannot afford to pay $1100 for a set of Crowers and don’t want to pay $500, so I guess it’s the HS rockers for me

[RA66GTO]

Has anyone used the Elgin SS Rockers?
https://www.competitionproducts.com/.../ELGSSR-846RS/
Elgin has been an OE supplier over the years so I would hope there would be some quality still associated with the name. The warranty is Lifetime, but is generically written.

[67Lemons]

Originally Posted by RA66GTO

Has anyone used the Elgin SS Rockers?
https://www.competitionproducts.com/.../ELGSSR-846RS/
Elgin has been an OE supplier over the years so I would hope there would be some quality still associated with the name. The warranty is Lifetime, but is generically written.

I’ve seen those as well & can’t imagine they are any better than the PRW’s based on the price, it would be great if someone tried them to determine if they are any good but it won’t be me.

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by RA66GTO

Has anyone used the Elgin SS Rockers?
https://www.competitionproducts.com/.../ELGSSR-846RS/
Elgin has been an OE supplier over the years so I would hope there would be some quality still associated with the name. The warranty is Lifetime, but is generically written.

Sadly it can be wishful thinking associating quality with a name these days. They look pretty nice, but Elgin has low end cheap roller bearings in their shore made rocker arms. You don’t have to look any further than the price. Getting what you pay for.

[ponchjoe]

Originally Posted by Jay S

Sadly it can be wishful thinking associating quality with a name these days. They look pretty nice, but Elgin has low end cheap roller bearings in their shore made rocker arms. You don’t have to look any further than the price. Getting what you pay for.

Are there any companies guaranteeing that they use bearings sourced from anywhere else. I’m in the aerospace parts business and the supply chain in the US mostly dried up after NAFTA.

[Formulas]

I have Harlan 1.65 standard body rockers, Low run time on OE. Edelbrock valve spring heads .600 lift... What should be the focal point to keep an eye on with these rockers so i can remove them before things go sideways? Never thought i would have to worry about them other than normal wear.

[grivera]

Unless you have extremely high spring pressure don’t worry- HS rockers have a proven track record

[steve25]

I have used them over an over an over with 245 lbs of seat pressure. And the last two times with restricted oiling.

[blackbird888]

I wonder if paying for it anyway, how the yella terra shafted rockers compare to the crower ss rockers. They are within 100$ of eachother, except crowers are stud mounted and YT are technically shafted in pairs.

[Cliff R]

"Crower SS rockers arms are military grade. It's our number one choice if shaft rockers aren't in the budget."

Plus 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Folks need to realize here that stock stamped steel rockers are fine for most "street" engine builds and like they did on factory engines will last the life of the engine with zero issues.

If and when you get into camshafts with super aggressive lobe profiles and "battleship" spring pressures to keep things in check a super strong roller rocker (or top-shelf shaft system) is a required upgrade.

For the record the only aftermarket roller rockers that I've never had or seen an issue with are Crane Gold Race, Harland Sharp, and Crower Enduro.

The PRW "copycat" stainless stell rockers aren't worth two squirts of duck poop far as I'm concerned. Tried them here as a lower cost substitute for the Crower Enduro's and every single set ground up the pins and inside of the rollers putting a BUTTLOAD of metal into the assembly. This wasn't noticed right away as the hydraulic lifters were taking up the lash.

However on my "hybrid" set-up that I used on my last 455 the lash kept opening up the lash and things got noisy. After several valve adjustments, and having about a teaspoon or metal "toothpaste" on the magnetic drain plug at every oil changes I took a much closer look at things and discovered they were worn slam out with some up to .018" clearance between the rollers and pins....YIKES!

So I went back and checked the two other engines we had installed them on and same thing. PRW was contacted about this issue, and sent my set to them for inspection. They came back and admitted that the pins inside the rollers were "rough" and too hard (defective) and that they had corrected that issue. This happened around 2009-2010. I stopped using them and went to Crower Enduro's and never looked back.

Even though PRW claimed to have corrected that issue I have told scores of my customers who used them in engine builds about that issue and every single one who checked them saw the SAME thing. Excess wear and clearance between the roller tips and pins.

I also tried one set of Scorpion roller rockers and we cracked 13 out of 16 of them in two seasons of drag racing. Those might be OK with closer to stock spring loads, but absolutely and for sure I would NOT use them here for any application.........FWIW.....

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by blackbird888

I wonder if paying for it anyway, how the yella terra shafted rockers compare to the crower ss rockers. They are within 100$ of eachother, except crowers are stud mounted and YT are technically shafted in pairs.

I think it depends on what the rest of the combo is. If you are using a mechanical cam, especially something big enough your needing to run a stud girdle, you’re definitely better off running shaft rockers. If your running a small HR or flat tappet cam the shaft rocker are not offering much if any improvement. If they are a lot heavier, and require extra spring pressure for a hydraulic set up they could be a step backward. Best example I can think of is on LS engines there have been occasions where the shaft rockers loose 500 plus RPM switching from their stock roller trunnion style rocker to a HD shaft rocker with the same springs. I think I have heard up to a 1000 RPM loss before. Those issues are with HR cams though, with mechanical cams the shaft rockers have no disadvantages that I can think of, just need to add spring pressure.

A couple of the guys here in this thread are going to be trying the LS lifter route in their Pontiac’s with mild cams. Just my opinion, but I would not use a heavier rocker arms than what is needed. I have no issue with the Harland Sharp original or if that falls thru a Scorpion Endurance (upgraded version made after 2011, most all of the issues with Scorpions were before the redesign) . A Crower Stainless are a bit on the heavy side, but these engines are not running enough RPMs to care about the weight, the Crowers (any of them) Comp Stainless from a Ford W, or a Yellow Terra would (or in 2025–should ) be complete bullet proof. I wouldn’t consider using a cheap and heavy PRW or Elgin Stainless rocker with a HR setup. That is more the econo option for a mechanical set up that is a limited use track car.

If something on the ultra cheap rockers does go bad then you end up with an odd set of $140 push rods that may not fit on anything else either. I don’t see a win for being extra cheap on that.

[PAUL K]

One thing for sure .... No $200 rocker arm is going to be comparable to an $800 rocker. I know it's nice to think those Whiz-bang Speedmaster parts are really nice quality and they just sell them really cheap once a year to show their love for America.... But they don't and they aren't.

[Jay S]

The first Pontiac Speedmaster rocker arms had an open fork type support for the roller tip and lean body like a stainless rocker, but were made from Aluminum. It was a hilariously poor effort for coping a rocker arm!