http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...64/header1.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...64/header2.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...964/valve3.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...0964/plug1.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...964/valve1.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...964/valve4.jpg



Well here's what happened to me. Comp cams gave me a NON-SA rocker in my brand new unopened SA set. On initial startup, rocker came off the valve, breaking a keeper and the valve dropped, dont know if it did completely but i imagine it must have, I dunno. Mechanic says "It will be fine my partner caught it right away and I shut the car off, there was no visable damage." So I drove it 10 miles and boom. Well I get the engine pulled and SURE ENOUGH, that valve that dropped is cracked in half. The matching cylinder is GONE, pistons exploded into my new heads and everything else, 4 rods shot out the pan.

I cant really blame the mech for putting the NSA rocker on as the difference between the 2 is so small. However he should have taken it back apart to be certain there was no damage, or metal from the valve got in the cylinder, which is what i think happened. And this never would have happened if comp cams knew how to package a box of RR's.

Here are some pics of the damage and also how my improperly installed headers caused burns. Also a stripped spark plug thread thx to the great mech that worked on my car. And thanks comp cams!!

 

I had something similar happen awhile back. it was my first time working with polylocks and didn't get em locked right. They all backed off and several pushrods got bent. And one rocker knocked out one keeper i got lucky...but my motor blew up a month later after fixing it anyways.

I would call comp and show em what you ordered, what the forms or whatever say, what the box says and show em the rockers that are diffrent from what everything else says.

Good luck
James

 

Some ppl will say its your fault for not noticing... that is bull... Comp should pay up. $$$

 

I ordered a new rocker and they said send the other back. The place that did my car has the NSA dunno if they sent it back yet. Because the owner I know well and I had no cash at the time so he ordered me one. Dont have the box either. Do have receipt its from combination motorsports.

 

I am going to agree. Its not your fault they put the wrong one in there. Just like if they put the wrong spring in a spring kit and you couldnt tell. They should pay up, but the question is, will they?

-Dustin-

 

But wont they say, I should have checked for damage after the valve dropped. how do I prove something like this, I have 3 witnesses that say they gave me the wrong rocker.

 

Sounds like the rocker would have pushed the retainer down.. that would have let the locks go and the valve dropped.

That sucks big time. I wouldn't expect anyone to notice that a NSA rocker was a SA or vis versa. the difference is two washers on the roller bearing but who woudl check for that?

 

Exactly, heck about 5 months ago i didnt even know how to tell the diff between nsa and na.

 

From what i could see the difference is 2 little lips where the rocker touches the valve the SA's are flat there, or the other way around i forget. Anyways,

Im going up to Golens hopefully this week to bring anything that might be salvagable (not much). He said that afr uses a high grade aluminum and are much beefier, which makes them easier to fix. Do these look fixable to you? worst part right here http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...964/valve3.jpg
I looked into the ports and couldnt see much damage at all.

 

I would guess that you will need new seats, valves, and valve job. (pretty basic). The ports are the least of your worries.

Also looks like it may have torn up enough to require some welding on that head to fill in the gouges, but doesnt look so bad that it cant be welded and then reshaped. Of course milling flat again too.

None of the above a good machine shop cant do. I would also screw that spark plug hole and helicoil it just to be safe

How do the pistons and cyl walls look?

 

On a side note I allways inspect stuff fully, even if it is new before I put it on.

Comp did something simular to me, but it wasnt as bad and I caught it, they gave me 1 1.7 ratio rocker amongst my 1.6 new set even wrapped in air tight plastic.

 

As much as that all sucks, you have to check parts to make sure they are correct. We all want these things to be seemless but in reality people make mistakes and you have to check things to make sure that they are what you need. At the same time I feel for ya man, that is going to take time and money to fix.

The head is salvageable, it's just going to be a lot of work.

Bret

 

I have learned that you must check EVERYTHING. I can feel your pain, I really can, but it is up to you to check the parts you are putting in your motor. Someone mentioned springs - of course you should check these. One springs look pretty much like another. They could all be wrong, or just one. I have seen both scenarios. It sucks, but it's your responsiblity.

You may have seen me post before about why you should let the shop doing the work order everything? This illustrates what can happen if the wrong parts are used. In this case, since it's a DIY install there is no recourse except a replacement on the damaged part from the vendor or manufacturer. NO warranty will cover "consequential damages".

Rich

 

Ditto, comp blows ***. Same thing happened to a buddy of mine. He couldn't figure out why his rocker kept falling off. He finally checked the rocker arm thinking there was no way a NSA rocker would end up in his brand new SA comp box. Sure enough comp sent him 15 of SA and 1 NSA. The sh!tty thing is that comp made him pay the overnight delivery on the new rocker arm cause he needed his car ASAP. Comp Cams has horrible service.

 

Although the problem may be traced back to a mis-box by comp, I don't deal with comp that much as I use Isky products mostly so I can't say if that is common or not, I never have those issues with Isky though. It still comes down to who installed the part. I have done it myself, begun to clearance some crower rockers only to find out later that I had wanted 7/16" versions and got sent 3/8".....now that situation didn't cause any damage, but it points out that if you don't ever want to play the part of the village idiot you had better check every part everytime.

It's an aluminum head so it can be fixed easily, but it will cost some coin.

Now the grey area is that you said that you paid to have a mechanic install right?
If you did, there is no reason why he couldnt tell the difference between an NSA rocker and an aligning one. If there's no guideplates, he should wonder what keeps the rocker centered...even if you supplied the part, he should check for compatability, that is why you paid for his expertise.