ROLLER ROCKERS-DO THEY REALLY WORK? HOW TO: 350 SBC POWER MODS-TIMING, JETTING, SPACERS & ROCKERS 

I appreciate that!

I think they tend to float less at high rpm’s

Also depends on how high you rev your engine, bet 6000rpm and up would be more beneficial with rollers.

More to come!

@@richardholdener1727 I would love to see more of the m90 on a 454 with a carb. I'm working on building a mild 454 for my daily 79 c10.

@@SquarebodyStuff I’m jealous! A daily driver big block, now that’s living a dream! My 78’ 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 454 gets about 7 mpg on a good day 😭 it’s a far and few times I get to drive it.

@@orangetruckman my daily commute is usually less than 10 miles.

@@orangetruckman Dually was similar, empty or loaded. On the fwy wasnt too terrible My 'El gets 20 bux for 20 min and with todays gas prices probably less. Totally worth it.

Longevity, and reliability I would stay stamped steel If ur not racing, less parts to explode and put needle bearings though ur engine

@@alltherpm What you are saying is ALL roller rockers are prone to failure. What George is saying is he has been using them for years without failure. Clearly, roller rockers have an advantage in preventing side load on valve guides, which is the number one cause of oil burning and valve failure. So one guy is talking from experience and sharing his success and the other guy is just talking out his azz. I let you figure out which one is which.

@@michaeldose2041 anything with needles can fail, on side load with a stud will always happen unless u run shafts to keep them sturdy, but on street engines with soft springs is not really a huge issue

@@alltherpm Yeah anything with an engine, and gears CAN fail. LOL ''but on street engines with soft springs is not really a huge issue'' Oh, okay, there is an issue but you should ignore it, because you cousin's buddy had an uncle that knew someone that had needles explode and ruined his engine with 100 miles on it. Every heard of a roller tip rocker? Now go put your dunce cap on and sit in the corner.

@@michaeldose2041 I've seen lot more lifters send needle bearings through engine, we had to call jesel to ask how many they put in them,rockers I've seen had alot break, but no needles explode, & y they don't wear cause they never turn enough, y there really not worth the money on most street engines with small cams under .575 lift, in my opinion which never claimed to no anything, just truth or keep my mouth shut

I've run that type of test-it works best with 1.6 on all cylinders

@@richardholdener1727 Roger that! Spacers...as said are tuning tools not every engine needs one. Drives me crazy seeing guys tell others to put xyz on a never fired engine just 'cause.

Very interesting… I hear new vrs carb has provision for idle air

That all sounds great and I'll apply what I can, but even computer controlled fuel injection big blocks don't get 20mpg on the highway.

we adjust idle speed, many perf carbs have rear holes in secondaries, we can get them to idle on the idle circuit and 20 mpg from a 454 with dual quads?

@@richardholdener1727 Yep....had 2.75 9" Ford with Richmond Super T-10 and ran from PA to Atlanta and back averaging a little over 70mph and got 19.8 mpg's true. Dual 500 Edelbrock AFB's on their low rise dual plane manifold, 9:1CR, large valve Oval port small chamber heads and 224/224 cam. Good running package up to 6000 rpm. It's easy to make power on a dyno.....you ought to try a gas mileage experiment which is a little tougher while still having good driveability. Even if you have extra idle air through the secondary plates (or primary or PCV feed) the transfer circuits are normally WAY too rich for good mileage. One fellow said to run 13.5 A/F which is nearly a full power mixture...we run high 16's or more at cruise if the mixture distribution will allow it which was part of the reason for the dual quads on the 454...each cylinder had a fuel delivery point nearby and both AFB's opened together with no progression. This intake system was able to run leaner than a single spread-bore two plane while maintaining crisp throttle response.

With my quadrajets I drill out the idle bypass air until I get a proper idle throttle opening

They won’t add much on a low power engine like this especially without a spring upgrade.

@@danmyers9372 that’s what I figured! Just wanted to see it tested! 😁

Still the roller rockers will drop oil temps bout 20degs, at least my stock cam L98 did with 1.6 rollers vs 1.6 stamped. Also the GM 1.5 stamped rockers in this test, were the newer SA-self-aligning rockers. They are more accurate/consistent ratio vs older SBC stamped rockers that were often 1.4

@@BOOT good point! I run rollers because I like to run big cams and wind my engines out but there are other benefits like you mention!

​@BOOT More oil flow means more heat taken away for cooling the spring and retaier better.

That isn't the point of roller rockers.

@@lollipop84858 Reducing friction is litterally the reason to rollerize.

Thank you very much!

#everycam

Bear in mind that this is not an absolute test-it just did this on this motor

If the lift and springs were more aggressive, then the stamped rockers may have lost power vs rollers

@BOOT @richardholdener1727 yep, definitely understand that every engine platform and parts combo is different, but still very interesting to see as a point of reference.

IMO rollers have never been about power they are a wear reducing item.

@@BOOTyes a mopar guy did this test and after 509 lift the rollers made more power.

all it takes is $ to have access

rockers need springs

Thanks for watching!

You are right, locked distributors are not great on the street-hard starting with 35 degrees of initial

these had screw in rocker studs

we have seen gains like that on other applications

Hate marketing bs just to sell quantity. Its like the bolt on catalogs for cars, most do zip except empty the wallet .

@@gordocarbo agreed, they could have mentioned longevity or strength--others mentioned the latter over stamped rockers, not to mention accuracy. many stamped 1.5:1 rockers are like 1.48-1.53 to 1

Comp cant even produce a flat tappet cam that does not eat Lobes and lifters

@@Haffschlappe back somewhere in the 1980's, one of their cam competitors ratted them in a half page ad that CC didn't even grind their own 'shafts, they just bought and re-boxed 'em. but they had a thing going with Racing Head Services to make crate engines--they had 3 page ads for "high energy" and "magnum" versions. some companies do a ton of advertising to make up for word of mouth, and some have enough word of mouth they don't have a need for much advertising.

fuel turbines read the flow for each fuel line on the dyno

That is exactly what I thought roller rockers were for. Less friction during operation and less wear on guides and seals.

@@brentvalentine Less friction strength if running a stiff valve spring. Id run stock ones as long as I possibly can they last forever

None of these reasons stated are the point of roller rockers by the way

@@lollipop84858 so the reasons are?

yah i agree. sowing machine noise from roller's are annoying.

The timing is locked-so you can measure it at any rpm. 113 heads were stock.

I have lots of ford vids too

@@richardholdener1727 I know, that's why I watch your channel. I appreciate all the great Ford content.

Yeah, I think you want to do springs with the rockers. They look sweet though.

You only need stronger springs if you're going higher rpm and also with a higher lift camshaft at which point threaded rocker studs are also recommended.

the AF meter and dyno tells us what the motor responds to. This is not a 420-hp motor-telling that you would make a hp claim that contradicts the actual dyno results not knowing the cam profile or compression or head flow etc...

going from 3/8 to 7/16ths rocker studs shows no change-only with very high spring rates and rpm

what intake

me too

Still basically works. Usually the primary has a power valve and the secondary side does not. That equals about 10 jets difference.

​@@grandmasmalibuI understand your point if you also say the correct power valve adds the difference.

Just helped a buddy tune his holley and ended up having a 10 jet spread front to rear so it still holds true 👍

the best way to tune one i have found, is with a wide band O2 sensor in the exhaust. for the primary side is in the carb, at cursing speed. with the light throttle so the power valve doesn't open you want around 13-13.5:1 for be fuel economy, power and emission at cruise, its funny how all of those happen at the same time. So jet up or down until you get there. then same process but watch the AFR as you accelerate, but do not open the secondaries, it should drop in to the 12s and you should not have any hesitation, if you may have to adjust the power valve opening up or down depending on if it bogs or hesitates. if it goes lean as you tip in to the throttle, open the power valve earlier. basically, you want your power valve to open as late as possible without going lean as you tip in to the throttle, this is for best fuel economy and will vary depending on the vacuum your engine makes. after that, its all about full throttle, add or remove jets to hit around 12-13:1 at WOT. some carbs have adjustable low and high-speed air bleeds, if you find it going rich or lean as you accelerate at WOT then you can adjust the air bleeds as necessary. it best to get a baseline on a dyno. but just tuning the carb on the dyno won't get you the part throttle cruise or power valve opening adjustments. but for the most part, yes, the 10-jet size difference front to rear is because of the power valve. one other adjustment is when the secondary's open, no an issue on double pumpers, but important on vacuum secondary carbs, basically the light the car the soon you can open the secondaries and not have it bog, the heavier the car the slower you want them to open. they are adjusted by swapping the springs in the diaphragm housing. a dyno will get you close, but tuning in the real world is a lot more involved.

Do y'all think the roller rockers would show improvement on more aggressive cam and higher spring pressures?

Westech already tested those

I doubt a 750 will add power on a 340-hp motor

No, it would add zero power.... The carberator's purpose is to add fuel, if there is enough fuel, its good, adding more fuel if the gine doesnt need it is a waste, amd adds nothing.

@@1gbayfisher Wicked !

Ah but it might! You never know til you test on the dyno!​@richardholdener1727

how will what effect drivability?

you might not be understanding how the meter works-the AF numbers were given on a gas scale-and the change in AF showed minimal power gains-so you being sure is not the same as the actual results

@@richardholdener1727 So this was via flow turbine and not wide band.

sometimes

I have oil test vids up

do not use both

@@richardholdener1727 Ok.... I take it you used both only because it was for a dyno pull, and not a street motor driven every day?

You have to run an amplifier with the distributor (it's not a ready to run)-we have a 6Al or Digital 7 on the dyno. A carb spacer effectiveness is application specific

@richardholdener1727 no worries. It must just be the engines I've built then that always seem to work better with a 2" spacer over the 1" spacer by increasing the plenum volume under the carb with a single plane inlet manifold in the 4150 carb style. It's why I'm going to use one straight up on my LS1 build. Using the holley midrise 300 137 manifold and 2" spacer plate under a 1000cfm throttle body.

maybe through the whole curve, but sometimes on top

You might be new to dyno testing, but feel free to look at the accessory video to find out how much they are worth. It doesn't matter how you test, as long as it is consistent and you make only 1 change. Keep watching and learning.

we ran a locked distributor-it is what we had. As long as AF is safe to run timing test

check with shops in your area-I don't build motors

not ideal

@@richardholdener1727 I thought I could get away with something new! Another great video Rich thanks

THIS STOCK CAM IS A HYD ROLLER.

Says cheap ponies, mentions afr heads.

faster revving? Throttle response?

Lol

I missed it