rockers wear

[mccallm]

Hi,

 

 

I have spent some time in a very cold garage lately to upgrade my American spec engine, I have a rocker shaft to replace, but when I started this I noticed

I have quite a bit of wear on the pads of my rockers ( the part that contacts with the valve) because I'm a tight ar$e, I was concidering grinding them back so that I can get a more accurate adjustement of the tappets, but I have heard that the pads are only surface hardened and grinding them back will only remove this and leave the pads useless, before I go to the expense of buying new, can anyone confirm this or offer any other options?

 

If this is the case, where is the best place to purchase new rockers.

 

Thanks

Mark

[88V8]

I have quite a bit of wear on the pads of my rockers ( the part that contacts with the valve) because I'm a tight ar$e, I was concidering grinding them back so that I can get a more accurate adjustement of the tappets, but I have heard that the pads are only surface hardened and grinding them back will only remove this and leave the pads useless.....

Correct.

 

However, with this tool you can adjust the clearances easily, regardless of the rocker wear.

 

http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?item=1824

 

Not everyone gets on with it, but I've had one for over 30 years, hadn't used it since about 1983, dug it out this summer used it on the TR6, great, easy.

A tool that's been in production 30+ years has to be good....

 

Ivor

[Richard Crawley]

The rocker surfaces are only case hardened I’m afraid & whilst it is possible to dress them to remove light wear, the case hardening is usually not very thick. The thickness can vary depending on the quality of the original components but I would be not recommend grinding off more than around .010” & even that may be too much. No way of telling how thick it actually is or when you’ve gone too far but wear will be very rapid once you have & then you also have the problem of metal slivers in the oil system.

[mccallm]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

88V8

I have a new head with new valves so not sure they will seat properly to use the adjuster tool, although I may get one of these for future.

 

Richard

Thanks for the confirmation, the wear on a number of the rockers is over 0.10" so it looks like replacements are required.

 

 

Any ideas best place, best price for replacement rockers?

[Richard Crawley]

Any ideas best place, best price for replacement rockers?

You need to be careful with the quality of repro rocker units (& even some of the shafts for that matter!) as they can wear very quickly. I was lucky enough to find an original set of rockers & shaft still in the BL boxes & they sometimes still turn up.

 

I paid £30 for the lot some years ago but I’ve no idea how much they would cost now; check with the suppliers & take guidance from the more trusted ones on the best to use. If I was in the position of replacing with non OE, personally, I would spend a little more & go for proven spec. UK manufactured or even race quality units.

[fblue73]

I know that cash is always an issue, but I would replace the rockers with rollers. Get a hardened shaft [moss usually has them] and a set of rollers---they are lightweight and reduce side loading on the valve stems as well as friction---the valve guides are another wear prone problem in the head.