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Patrick I've read many of your posts over the years and I have nothing but respect for your views. I simply disagree in this case. True they aren't a ball stud head in a technical sense of the word, but for all practical purposes they are and non-adjustable to boot. Don't forget puny 5/16 studs versus 3/8 on Eddys. Eddys also accept most aftermarket Chevy rockers. Factory magnums also limit your choices regarding intake manifolds. Sure heads and manifolds can be redrilled, but not for free. The Indy/RHS magnum style head can be had with LA manifold bolt holes and shaft style rockers. Plus they claim to have fixed the crack prone areas. By the time you fix all the things that need to be addressed on a set of used factory heads you can buy a new Indy/RHS head cheaper. Judging from what I've read they flow better too. Lastly he is putting them on a stroker which tells me that this probably isn't a quick and cheap "ring and bearing job". Why after building a good foundation try to "cheap out" now. The top half of the engine can definitely make or break you power wise. Put a good top half on the engine and let the stroker realize it's potential. No offense intended, this is after all just my opinion.




not offended in the least....it all depends on one's budget and realistic performance needs. my OEM mag heads that I scored for free weren't cracked when checked at a machine shop. beings it was going to be in a daily driver with a cam and spring pressures that aren't super excessive (.316 lobe lift, ~150lb seat pressure, and ~330 or so open), OEM rockers have been running fine for over a year.

comparably prepped 1.92 OEM magnum heads vs. 2.02 la heads, the magnums are probably worth ~15-20 HP & 15-20 lb ft due to better chamber and port velocity, even if you equalize compression ratio (IIRC Jesse lackman did this test with some dirt track motors)

all I know is my mag headed 318 runs darn hard, with a 208@.050 roller cam, it runs as hard as my old LA360 with a comp XE262, while returning nearly 20% better fuel economy.

the manifold thing is overblown...redrill to LA, or sell your LA and buy a magnum M1, air gap, or crosswind....I spend $15 to redrill mine.

as far as ball stud vs. pedestal, the design of the pedestal mount (having the pedestal with a through bolt), you don't NEED a larger bolt than 5/16", because it's just in tension, taking very little potential bending loads due to friction at the fulcrum (the pedestal takes that, loading the bolt in tension), a ball stud, the stud does potentially take bending load. one nice thing with the pedestal mount is, even though they're non adjustable, you can easily shim them if you need to fine tune the fulcrum height due to valve jobs, etc.

if you do feel the need to switch to adjustable/chevy style rockers, there are options, one being drilling the 5/16 holes to 3/8 or 7/16....the other being special studs, the 3rd being hughes' jesel style shaft mount rockers....

I agree, if you don't have good, crack free OEM heads, you're better off going aftermarket....but, personally, I like the idea of using a magnum/chevy type rocker gear if you're looking at roller rockers over the LA shaft mounts.. there's just too many choices of good quality than a comparable LA rocker system, and if you are on a budget and using stock rockers, the magnum rockers seem to measure much more true (if anything a touch OVER 1.6) than LA rockers (which routinely measure at ~1.4)

Last edited by patrick; 09/03/10 09:17 AM.
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