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Tom B of Seal Beach asked about Scorpion brand rocker arms in another thread. Rather than hi-jack that thread I thought it would be better to start a new thread about rocker arms and let everyone pitch-in. Tom wanted to know specifically if anyone has any experience with the Scorpion brand of rocker arms. I do not.

However, I do want to add my 2 cents to the subject of rocker arms. Cast rocker arms break, so my first recommendation is a warning, never use cast rocker arms.

Although very many race motors have run successfully with push rod guided rocker arms I have never liked them. It seems to me to be the wrong way to do it, the cheap, small block Chevy, sloppy, short-cut way to do it. Because so many motors have been built, and are still built, with push rod guided rocker arms, my dislike of them must fall under the category of George's idiosyncrasy. So be it. I have always preferred a rocker arm system that employs a fixed mounting system for locating the rocker arm, and rotates the rocker arm on a shaft. I thought the Jesel and T&D systems were bitchen when they finally came along, but they are admittedly expensive, not everyone's cup of tea.

If you have iron heads and are still using the stamped steel rocker arm system, you need a set of roller rocker arms. The factory stamped steel rockers are junk, and they aren't capable of being used with cams of much more than 0.500" lift. However, you do not need to pull your heads and have them machined for studs & guide plates to install roller rocker arms. I have a pair of excellent solutions for you that do not involve push rod guided rocker arms.



The rocker arm above is sold by Ford Racing Performance Parts, part number M-6564-C351. The rocker is equipped with a pedestal that installs in the slotted mount just like the OEM stamped steel rockers & fulcrums. It is non-adjustable, but can be shimmed to achieve the proper lifter pre-load.



If you must have adjustable valve train, these are the solution for you. They are made by Yella Terra, part number YT6015. They also mount on a pedestal in the OEM slotted mount location, but these include an adjuster for the push rod cup, just like the expensive Jesel or T&D style rocker arms. Very stable, no slop, no push rod rubbing against a guide plate. The Yella Terra rocker arms are more expensive than the average set of rocker arms, but if you factor in the cost of removing & installing the heads, the machine work and a set of guide plates and studs, they are cheaper than going the push rod guided route.

If you are considering purchasing a set of alloy heads for your Cleveland, I'd like to mention that CHI heads can be ordered with slotted pedestals. This option is provided specifically for their customers who prefer the Yella Terra rocker arms.
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George and anyone else...tell me about Scorpion Performance...are their products good. I just found a company in Torrance Coast High Performance has Scorpion Roller Rockers at a reasonable $235 price but they are a forged unit and carry a lifetime warranty and are rebuildable. Has anyone had experience with these rockers? I assume since they are forged they will be slightly heavier than aluminum, but I like longevity. The listing is for a big block Ford rocker but I cross checked it and it is the same roller rocker used on the 351C. here's the webpage...http://www.coasthigh.com/product-p/scp1024.htm

DeTom, you said you are not going with roller tappets to keep weight down...I didn't think about that. What's worse the friction from a flat tapped or the extra weight of a roller lifter with less friction? My cam lift will be similar to DeToms at .580 ballpark. I'm using behive springs with steel retainers.
http://www.coasthigh.com/product-p/scp1024.htm
I can discuss roller rockers... I am running a set of ancient Harland Sharp aluminum roller rockers that I bought used off a Mustang racer....in 1985. Roller rockers do not generally increase horsepower; what they do is reduce sliding friction and thus drop engine oil temperatures. Some sources say oil temps will drop up to 15F degrees with full roller rockers. The low-friction rolling action is both from the needle bearing pivots on the rocker std and from the roller that contacts the valve stem. But all is not roses- at low speeds, the roller on the arm, which is NOT a bearing but a simple tool-steel-roller-on-steel-pin, will still slide across an occasional valve stem. And if you constantly over-rev the engine, valve float will hammer a flat spot on the steel roller, making the sliding action constant. So carefully examine any swap-meet roller rockers you might find. Good roller rockers are rebuildable- the pin comes out with a tiny snap-ring and new rollers and needle-bearings are available from the mfgrs. I had one flat-spotted roller on my used Sharp rockers, which I fixed cheaply. Lower cost roller rockers have rivited pins that are NOT rebuildable. Even cheaper 'roller rockers' are stamped steel with a standard ball-or sled- pivot on the stud and the usual non-bearing roller contacting the valve stem. These are nearly as high-friction as OEM rockerarms and IMHO are useless with hi-lift cams & matched springs. A recent HRM engine build BURNED UP a brand-new set of these rockers during their first dyno run.
IMHO, the best full-roller rockers available are stainless steel units; as it turns out, the protruding arms of the rockers are the critical weight items, not the overall weight, and ss rocker arms, which are much stronger than aluminum ones either extruded or forged- are virtually the same weight as aluminum. So the engine's rev-range is not impacted by running ss rockers. No NASCAR or sprint engine runs aluminum rockers. Besides breakage, to get strength the aluminum ones are bulkier and interfere with oversized springs. Relief-machining rockers for spring clearance often weakens them.
Finally, full-roller rockers for 351-Cs are 1.73:1 lever ratio. Cheaper big-block Chevy units will bolt on without alteration but are 1.70:1 ratio, so you lose 2% of your cam's specified lift. And even greater lift assemblies are available at 1.80:1- about 4% more lift for a given cam. FWIW, valve lift changes are not directly proportional to horsepower; it's more complicated than that. The hi-ratio rocker assemblies are more stressful on everything, so require stiffer valve springs, better pushrods and higher quality cam chains.
quote:
tell me about Scorpion Performance...are their products good. I just found a company in Torrance Coast High Performance has Scorpion Roller Rockers at a reasonable $235 price but they are a forged unit and carry a lifetime warranty and are rebuildable.

FWIW, Dan Jones recommended these roller rockers for my build (targeting +/- 400hp and 400 ft.lbs torque from 3000-5000 rpm). He said the Scorpions are one of the best of the lower cost roller rockers without jumping up to a $500 set of Crane Gold Race roller rockers. Lots of good feedback about them (and their customer service) on the Ford Muscle forums too.
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