Early Hemi rockers

Started prototype/ fixtures for making rockers for my early hemi project. Very challenging balancing placement confines, ratios and geometry. The rough prototype of the exhaust rocker ends up with a 1.63 ratio. This is the minimum ratio I could achieve with the combination of rocker shaft placement, .250” longer valve, and planned 7/16” pushrod.
This one is 6061. The real ones will be 7075. Going to continue profiling it to get some weight out of it. Very pleased with geometry across the valve and pushrod.

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Wow,, beautiful work.

Amazing work!

Seems sort of complicated for a single “budget” build, but I really like doing this stuff. Not very often do I get a chance to do things for myself anymore.

Seems to me you're trying to reinvent the wheel. Mickey Thompson, Keith Black, Donovan and a host of others made rockers for these motors that were sufficient to run in top fuelers. Why not save yourself the aggravation and just buy a set of theirs.

For the same reason I don’t buy anything I can make. It costs to much, and will need to be modified anyway...
No one makes an off the shelf part that will fit my particular head anyway. Pushrod holes are shifted from “normal” location.

Do you have access to any computer technology to analyze your design for where to remove material and still maintain strength?

I envy people that can take a block of material and whittle it into something that looks like it was always that way.

Kevin

I have solidworks, which I barely know how to navigate. It does have stress/ structural analysis, but it would take longer to learn to use it than it would to try the rockers and build new ones if they break
Truly just an exercise in making myself a better hobbyist machinist. This all done in my garage on an old manual Bridgeport.

Maybe somebody on here can help you get up to speed with Solidworks. That's a lot of hours of hobby machine work to redo if they break.

Kevin

VERY nice machine work ! hoping for a good outcome for this endeavor.