Studs break for a few reasons.........One, they are cheap, stretch when you torque them and cause a stress riser..........Two, improper clamping. IE you THOUGHT everything was tightened down and slop out, but it wasn't........Three, something is stressing the stud. Like a retainer hitting the top of a valve guide. Springs rubbing rockers, incorrect geometry or anything trying to push the stud over

I should have the replacement shaft, adjusters, and ARP studs to get this fixed this weekend. I will inspect the other studs to see if they show any signs of fatigue.

Better check w/ T&D on how much torque they want to see used w/ their shafts. Just because ARP says 50#s doesn't mean the shafts can stand up to that much w/o getting "squished" out of round at the mounting points.

Got me, but that's some serious spring pressure for a street-driven car IMHO. I'm only going to be running about 600#s open and am already concerned if I'll encounter any shaft mounting issues w/ my Victors.

He uses rocker stands. Shouldn't apply.



Chris. .

You don't think those aluminum stands will distort if torqued too much? Maybe he needs to check w/ the maker of the stands on how they think 50#s will work out.

You may be 100% right, but having ovaled good shafts using nice steel hold-downs and far less torque, I'm a lil' suspect.

I doubt I will be using 50 ft/lbs, but I'm not too worried about getting the shaft out of round. These shafts are smaller diameter and thick material when compared to the stock sized rocker shafts, but this also presents a different issue relating to oiling through the rocker shaft.
The three inner studs have a reduced diameter so oil can flow around them, so they will have to be torqued to a lower setting. It is interesting none of those broke?

I E-Mailed Jesel to see what they have, and this is their reply:

"We do a pro series rocker kit for that head. There is machining required. The factory style cast in rocker shaft pedestals have to be removed for our steel stand to bolt down to the head. Then our shaft bolts to our steel stand. The rocker kit costs $1700.00 and takes about 7-10 days to build to your desired ratio.

Jon Fodor
JESEL, Inc.
732-901-1800 xt. 161
732-901-6777 fax
jonf@jesel.com"

For someone thinking of using these heads and looking for a rocker system, the Jesel setup may be the way to go? The T&D system is almost $1200, then I spent another $200+ on the aluminum stands and hardware, so their rocker kit would not be much more than what I already have in my T&D setup?

Speaking of the rocker oiling system, I have been thinking that it might be an improvement to drill the second and forth rocker stands and connect them together with some small 1/8" copper tube so the oil from the fourth stand will also send oil to the second stand. The holes in the bottom of the rocker shaft are slightly larger to allow the oil to flow into the hollow shaft to oil the rockers. With this modification, I could use the studs without reducing the center diameter of them for the oiling?

What got me thinking about this, it the new Trick Flow head are supposed to re-route the rocker arm oiling so the oil does not flow between the intake port walls.