___Lol... Man, these things are loaded with things to do. Mock up with studs, pushrods, Rocker arms, check rocker alignment on valve stem tip. "Guess" how much to grind off, take off everything, walk over to grinder, grind off 'some', clean it all off, start over at step number one.

___Next, after finally arriving at what I had to grind off BOTH sides (they intersect so you have to grind some off both the left and right halves) comes the next tedium. First I put some Loctite on the ARP Rocker studs, hand thread the stud into the head, then I carefully orient the halves to align to the tips. Carefully, I lift off the rocker(CC 7/16" Pro Mags) then take the socket and gently place it on the stud and turn it to tighten it to the recommended 50ft lbs. As I turn it, the guideplate is grabbed by the turning stud and pushes off to the right, thus throwing off the alignment. DOH! Repeat two more times to the now thunderous cussing rants. I finally figure out that if I put a bit more amount of hand tightening, then tap it back into place with a brass drift and punch, it'll stay in place for the full tightening.
Hahaha... jeez... good thing I love working on my car/motor.

 

Yes I have some of those. I built a 97ss 383 blown D1 with afr 190 heads MM6 trans. I moved to the comp pro-mag rr's (very nice piece). The roller would not line-up with the valve tappet. So, I purchsed some Isky PR guide plates. As you said, alignment problems. So I purchased a std gm set from Summit (low cost). Cut them in 1/2, assembled them to adjust the tappet allignment. Removed the rocker arms. Used duct tape to retain the geometry. Removed the 7/16 rocked studs. Moved to the vise and clamped, then MIG welded. Cleaned and ground. Perfect fit and alignment. I guess I will throw the Isky adjustables out. Thanx for your experience. I also enjoy wrenchin. My next project... re_engineer the opti encoder with F1 reliability. B.

 

Mine went on easy

-Dustin-

 

What heads are you running? When I was using the stock LT1 castings, the standard GM guide plates worked fine. I'm using Canfields now that relocate the intake valve off to the side by .150" so I can't use the stock GM GP.

 

The Isky adjustable plates are a excellent solution for getting alignment correct, you just need more practice setting them up. You obviously cannot try to tighten the studs more once adjusted, they need to be welded at that point - either take them off with vice-grips or I actually tig weld them in place, no mig because that usually splatters some.

 

Looks like it'll be vise grips then
The only welders I have are oxygen acetylene and Flux Core. Won't I have to be careful not to get it too hot, for fear of changing the metal's temper?
Thanks for the tip.

 

Yes - I'm not sure either of those won't change the surface hardness.

 

Get a set of shaft mount rockers and problem solved. Really they arent a whole lot more expensive then a good stud mount set up. I think total for mine was around $900.

 

Aren't shaft rockers also depending on a specific valve spacing? I thought they were paired up? Just looked at the Probes for Canfields. Like you say, about $900 ("Racer Net" in their PDF catalog $939). Looks like they have tons of versions to fit just about everything. Maybe next time I'll go with that option. Thanks...

 

shaft mount, never look back lol