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Roller rockers which is the best?

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Old 04-28-2004, 11:10 AM
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Roller rockers which is the best?

Hey, all i am concidering getting some roller rockers for the ls1, since i dont want to crack into the internals too much just yet, i figured i would get some LS6 springs and some roller rockers, but i dont know what size i should get in summit there is a crane cam roller rocker kit, but it has 1.7 ratio with 3/8th stud and 1.8 ratio with 3/8 stud, but this kit also includes push rods and retainers and all that. It is listed for 700 bucks. Thats a little pricey for roller rockers, i dont need push rods, since the stock ones should be fine and all i would have to do is replace the springs, which i am guinna do with the ls6 valve springs. Can i use 1.6 ratio with 3/8th studs? Crane cams has roller rockers just the rockers for 300 bucks but i is for sbc with centerbolt valve covers, and there biggest ratio is 1.6 3/8th. but trick flow does have some 1.7 ratio roller rockers with 3/8th stud biut it is listed as small ford What do you think i should do? Or wrather what would be the best application? thanks
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Old 04-28-2004, 12:41 PM
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From what ive heard:

Yella Terra rockers seem to be the ones of choice. I am not sure why, but they say if your going to be putting on a cam in the future not to bother with rockers, at least going to a larger ratio. You can look at them on ls1speed.com

I want to put on a ls6 cam sometime in the future and im wondering if they will work the yella terr 1.80:1 rockers?

What is the gain on just a set of rockers like the ones i mentioned above?
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Old 04-28-2004, 02:05 PM
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gains from the added lift, as well as decreased friction should equate to about 15hp to the wheels.

combo motorsports has the 1.85 Comp Cams rockers and the spring/retainer kit for $550

and if the ls6 cam is the one from the corvette, than the rockers should work fine, since you can install the rockers into the vettes...they should be fine in the camaro version of the ls6
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Old 04-28-2004, 02:28 PM
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i have heard gains any where from 15-25 rwhp and thats almost as much as a mild cam. I plan on doing the ls6 cam in the future, but for right now i want to have some economical and streetable performance, without haveing to tear into my motor just yet.

But my original question is would any of the rockers i listed above work? is 1.6 too small of a ratio? What is the difference between a 1.7 3/8th GM rocker and a ford rocker? I am just woundering if there is a cheaper route since i dont need a kit, i am going to buy the springs seperately, and then just buy the rockers, roller rockers usually retail for about 300 dollars..and i dont want to have to buy a whole kit, just the rockers and re-use most of my stock parts. thanks
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Old 04-28-2004, 06:41 PM
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as with most parts for it, the LS1 rocker arms are uniquely designed for it...not sure why

i think you are pretty much stuck with the ones advertised for the LS1

and stock ratio IS 1.6 already
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Old 04-28-2004, 07:32 PM
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Originally posted by teke184
and stock ratio IS 1.6 already
Stock is 1.7
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Old 04-28-2004, 08:17 PM
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Yup, stock LS1 IS 1.7. You can't go cheap and run the 1.6. Get rockers that are specifically for the LS1. Trying to mismatch things may cost you much more $ down the road when something breaks because the geometry isn't right.


Rockers for the LS1 just flat aren't cheap when you look in the summit catalog and compare them to SBC rocker arms. Then again neither is anything else except maybe gears. That comp cam set doesn't look like a bad deal considering what the other manufacturers are wanting.
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Old 04-28-2004, 09:21 PM
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i stand corrected. i knew it was more then the standard ratio, and that of the lt1....
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Old 04-28-2004, 10:43 PM
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damn that sucks, yeah i figured it wouldnt work but i just wanted to give it a shot...i mean 600 bucks is alot of dough to spend on rockers...is anything cheap for the ls1?? lol i did a head swap, cam, headers and highflow cats on my monte SS for 1500 bucks..lol....looks like i might as well just get thels6 cam kit, for 219 plus springs...prob cheaper then doing the rockers
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Old 04-29-2004, 04:04 AM
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Harland Sharp has some roller rockers for a good price. Yella Terras are very nice. And in my opinion if you change anything in the valve train spend the $110 and get chromemoly pushrods at the same time. Why do the work twice?

And guys, If you're looking for LS1 parts why not go to our sponsers who know and race LS1s? You go to Summitt or Jegs. Yeah they are well known speed parts shops but do they build, race, and test parts on their own LS1 cars. I don't think so.

Go to Thunder Racing, T-byrne, LS1 speed, and many others. They are all here as advertizers and these folks KNOW the answers. You will not be sorry that you did.
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Old 04-29-2004, 06:19 AM
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the cam alone will be a good choice.

but since you are gonna be pulling the rockers anyway to do the springs...i would go that extra step and install some better rockers. like i said the 1.8s are designed for the ls6 as well i think, so they should work with the ls6 cam

contact the vendors as al said...they will definately know
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Old 04-29-2004, 05:50 PM
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just got done having the VHP 1.89 accelerated lift rocker kit and VHP dual spring kit.

rocker and spring tq graph

rocker and spring hp graph

here's the list of mods, dyno results, and et results
http://www.stealthram.com/99formulatimeslip.html

here's the rocker kit and dual spring kit
http://www.vincihighperformance.com/superwebdeals.HTML
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Old 04-29-2004, 11:02 PM
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There seem to be a lot of Yella Terra sets for sale on various boards. I'd do some research as to why before jumping on that bandwagon. I've heard good things about the Harland Sharp rockers, but they are relatively new.

Be aware that if you put in a cam later, you might need to change your springs again. Switching from 1.7 to 1.85 ratio would change a .575 valve lift cam into a .625 valve lift cam.

There used to be good deals on the GM LS1 Hotcam kit, which included everything you needed. I'd also go to the sponsors to purchase. They can give you better info than the generic Jegs/Summit.
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Old 04-30-2004, 06:25 AM
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those are some nice gains...particularly the torque.

i noticed you had 1* of knock on the first pull, how much do you think that affected it?
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Old 04-30-2004, 10:24 AM
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all the kits i have found are between $550 and $750. I will prob need to do push rods as well, since i would like to run a ls6 cam, not sure if the hot cam kit will pass the sniffer or not. But since my SS is my daily for right now, until i grad from college i want to keep the mpg as high as possible. And dont want to mess with reliability. I was going to get the ls6 conversion kit, with the heads, cam, pushrods, springs and all that for 1700, but then i realized that i needed the ls6 intake, which would cost me another 465. All that plus the cost of install.
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