|
By rponfick - 3 Years Ago
|
I decided to adjust the valves on my '56 TBird today. The best I can determine from the receipts is that the engine was gone through in 2005, and driven very little since then. The valves were in pretty good adjustment, and only minor tweaks to get them to the recommended .019". They have the interference fit screw adjusters on them, and not the locknut type.
What surprised me is there are no markings on the rocker arms whatsoever. I know there were 1.43 and 1.54 ratio rockers available for these Y-blocks, and the ones I had seen previously had identifying numbers, such as 5751066, or ECG6564-B2.
Does anyone have any comments on unmarked rockers, are they common, and what might I have?
Thanks, Ralph
|
|
By paul2748 - 3 Years Ago
|
Since they are unmarked, I would think they are aftermarket. I haven't heard of any (older) aftermarket rockers that were the high lift ones so I suspect they are the low ratio rockers. Just my guess.
|
|
By rponfick - 3 Years Ago
|
I had just installed the Mummert rocker arm assembly on my '57, and they are marked ECG6564-B2, which I understand is the higher ratio. They appear to be a high-quality product and oiled the rockers well while watching the engine run with the valve covers off. There is a set screw in the hole where the over-flow tube would normally be in the stock application, to force all the oil out the rockers.
I am just curious if anyone has any knowledge of unmarked ones, aftermarket, or whatever, from back in the day. There evidently have been some aftermarket manufacturers of the rocker arms.
Thanks, Ralph
|
|
By 55blacktie - 3 Years Ago
|
|
Maybe Rocker Arms Unlimited in Redding, CA.
|
|
By Richard - 3 Years Ago
|
|
I highly recommend Rocker Arm Specialty. If you ask him he can even supplier a true 1.6 ratio on new shafts ready to go.
|
|
By 55blacktie - 3 Years Ago
|
|
I think they're one and the same, but there was a name change. They did say that they could convert my 1.43 to up to 1.6 but didn't say how. I guess I need to revisit that.
|
|
By rponfick - 3 Years Ago
|
The last item on my check list was to check the oil flow to the rockers while watching the engine running. There appeared to be plenty of oil to the pushrod side, but a couple of holes in the valve side did not have very much flow. So, I crimped down the overflow tube a bit to keep more oil being forced out of the rockers. Since the Mummert rocker arm assemblies have a set screw plugging the outlet where the tube normally exists, I trust lessening the flow out the tubes is not a problem. I had read somewhere that the tubes are there to lube the distributor gear, and the cam chain, but Mummert didn't see the removal of them to be a issue.
I also observed the pushrods rotating fairly well, which I think is a sign of good cam lobe taper to provide for tappet rotation. I guess the pushrod rotating is a sign the tappet is also rotating, which is all good.
All being said, the no-names seem to be working fine, and I will leave them alone.
Thanks for the comments. Ralph,
|
|
By DryLakesRacer - 3 Years Ago
|
I’ve run my engine many times without the rocker covers on and shields on the heads between the springs and edge. I do it to see flow out of the 2 overflows. I believe the overflows are important and as long as there is oil evident at the flows and on the side edges of each rocker I’m not worried. At driving speed there is a lot of oil splashing every where as evident when after driving there is oil on the top of each spring when I takeoff a cover. There have been many engines that have no oil feed of oil to rocker systems at all using only the vapor of the engine. What’s important is good servicing with clean new oil at least once a year.
Racing or high performance has a different criteria.
|
|
By Ted - 3 Years Ago
|
A company called ‘Barker’ made high lift rockers for the Y in the Fifties. Cliff Murray ended up with an appreciable inventory of those and was selling them on EBay for awhile. Other than having a ‘B’ on them they are unmarked. Here’s a picture.
|
|
By Cliff - 3 Years Ago
|
|
I've had brand new in the box TRW rocker assemblies, unmarked, 1.43 ratio
|
|
By rponfick - 3 Years Ago
|
Ted, checked my unmarked rockers today and they have no "B", or any other designation. So, we may never know what these things are. But they seem to work. No idea of ratio, but that is not a big deal.
Thanks, guys. Ralph
|
|
By Joe-JDC - 3 Years Ago
|
|
Put a dial indicator on one of the retainers and see how much travel you have. With your cam card, you should be able to see the lobe lift and you can figure out the rocker ratio from that by dividing the lift by lobe height. Joe-JDC
|
|
By rponfick - 3 Years Ago
|
Joe, I tried that, but my dial indicator does not have a stop on it, so I could not determine the amount of movement. Tried with remote starter bump, but could not read either, as it was too crude a measure. If I could get to the crank bolt, manual turning may be possible, but I didn't think it was worth the trouble. Tried with caliper to measure between the center of the adjuster screw hole, to the center of the rocker shaft, but that was inconclusive.
So, I will just live with whatever I have.
Ralph.
|