I dont know that i would trust roller rockers off ebay for that price.

 

okay. is 30rwhp worth that money or are there better options? is it going to be very noticable? and what if I had the heads ported and polished as well?
are these going to cause a need for more maintenance in the future? I need my car to be reliable. thanks and sorry about all the questions

 

You'll feel 30rwhp. An yeah i say its worth it. But i wouldnt trust 68$ rockers.

 

what difference would Ported and Polished heads make to the 30rwhp that I'd make? and would my car be less reliable?? I know most any engine mod does but im not sure about this sort of thing

 

They aren't roller rockers. They are roller tip rockers. They are hardened and just as good as the stock pieces. 1.6 ratio for 69$ cant be beat and they have 100s of satisfied customers.

 

Just about any mod will make your car less reliable because you are going be be going WOT a lot more.

 

Why would WOT make the car less reliable? I know with my Caddy N* WOT is VERY healthy for the car.

 

I don't trust much of anything off of ebay these days. Its become a chore to sift through what is crap and what is a legitimate good part.

 

so, no opinion on heads ported and polished?

 

Ported and polished heads are a good thing, but I would mate them up with a better cam as well.

 

To start your list should include

Electric Waterpump [CSR or Mez]
1.6 Full Roller Rockers and LT4 Spring Kit
Headers - either mid or long tube. Coated or not since your on a budget
PCM Tune from PCM4LESS or Madwolf

-Dustin-

 

Im going to go with his suggestion. Full roller rockers, roller tip isnt that great. I would wait for an electric water pump til the pump is about to go, that way you have reason to replace it, just my opinion though.

 

Remember... dude has 400$ with a POSSIBLE 100$ more.... stay within his means fellas. That's why I made the suggestions I did. Keep him low and get him the most for his $.

 

No offense, but talking about christmas and birthday money you sound young. If thats the case then like you said, you definately want to keep the car reliable as possible.

If I was in your place, I would shop around for a set of used mid length headers. You can purchase the headers now, save some more, and get the gaskets, new plugs and wires, and probably have everything you need assembled by summer. It'd be a good weekend project to put the headers in and its something youd gain a signifigant horsepower increase from. Its also something that you can do on your own if you have a moderate amount of mechanical inclination. The only decrease in reliabilty you would see is maybe a burnt plug wire if youre not careful.

I know you dont like suspension, but a nice set of shocks and a beefy front swaybar would make your car a blast to drive and improve the ride quality. You could upgrade the suspension on your car within your budget pretty easily.

I woudln't bother with the 1.6 rockers. Youre gonna pick up a small amount of power that you probably wont even notice. Also, if youre not mechanically inclined popping off the valve covers and turning the motor over may be intimidating. The rockers will cost you around $200 ($125 used), plus $40 for the springs and a shop is probably going to charge you around $200 to install rocker arms and I just dont see blowing your whole budget on what will probably add up to be less than 10hp worth it.

edit- Also if you go with the rockers, youre going to want a tune ($150) and/or LT4 knock module ($40) to eliminate false knock... which eats into your budget further.

If reliability is super important to you I wouldnt go with an electric waterpump either... if you have an electrical problem you could loose your engine cooling. The only way the stock waterpump is going to fail is if it corrodes and forms a leak.

 

the only reason I would consider the roller rockers is because one of the stock ones is ticking and from what I heard, they are non adjustable so I can't fix it without replacing it. I a 17 btw. i think I could handle the headers. if not, I could get help in auto tech in school. I get 400 for christmas set. and at least 100 for my birthday. Headers seems like the best choice from what I can see. what all do I need with them for an install? gaskets? any kind of piping to hook up to stock pipes? how much would the extras run?
thanks