Thanks to Keith Craft and Shelly, I had my new T&D SOHC rockers shipped directly from T&D, and they arrived here today. Here's a couple of pictures of what came in the box:








As you can see they are really, really nice looking pieces, and the adjusters especially are very strong looking.


Not wanting to waste any time, the first thing I did was to take the needle bearing and roller assembly apart on one of the rockers, so that I could check the radial bearing clearance. Here's a photo of the disassembled rocker:



The needle bearings are retained in the body of the roller wheel by what appears to be a ring or washer pressed in from each side. I decided not to press those apart, fearing I would damage the needle bearings in the process. The needle bearings are in the standard arrangement, not the caged style of needle bearings like my RAS rockers were. I decided I could check the radial bearing clearance with the micrometer and a go-no go indication from a pin gauge. The pin or axle that the needle bearings ride on measured 0.4370" in diameter. My pin gauge set is a "-" set, with pins every thousandth of an inch. The pin that measured 0.4385" was a nice tight fit in the needle bearings, and the next pin measuring 0.4396" was a no go. This means that the radial needle bearing clearance is between 0.0015" and 0.0026". However, because of the tight fit of the 0.4385" pin, I'm pretty sure that the ID of the needle bearings is no more than a tenth or two over that, and could actually be exactly 0.4385", for a clearance of 0.0015".

As some of you may recall, my Ford NOS rocker had a radial bearing clearance of 0.0018", and the SKF bearing web site said that the optimal radial bearing clearance for an assembly this size was 0.0008" to 0.00177". That puts the radial bearing clearance right on the money for these rockers. I was sure glad to see that!

Next I weighed one of the rockers, and it was right at 250 grams. This is almost identical to the factory rocker weight.

Finally, I test assembled one of them on my 585" SOHC, which has been waiting patiently on the dyno ever since I left for Drag Week in September. With all the other rockers I've tried, the cam lobes of my Comp cams have hit the body of the rocker, either underneath the roller wheel, or else the adjacent lobes will hit the body of the rocker. On my RAS and Dove rockers, I had to machine the rocker bodies to get clearance between the body and the adjacent lobe, and the Dove aluminum rockers will require machining for the clearance under the roller also. I bolted a rocker onto the #5 exhaust position, and slowly turned the engine over to watch for interference. I was really pleased to see that there wasn't any, and in fact the clearance from the adjacent cam lobe to the rocker body was even bigger than the clearance between this cam lobe and the head casting:




So, I can just bolt these rockers on and go! After all the screwing around I've had to do to make aftermarket parts fit on these SOHC engines, this setup is a breath of fresh air. I'll be running this engine on the dyno over the weekend, and will give a report by Sunday night. The final acid test, of course, will be if the rockers live on the street. We will see in the spring...


Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC

crown on it that some described earlier or is it dead flat across?

The rocker has the correcgt crown on it like the originals. We had the blue prints to the original when we were making these and they are the same on all dimensions just better. Thanks, Keith

Jay if the rockers are anything like the other stuff that Larry has made for me they will be great. We have had great succes with the T@D stuf on anything we have run it on. Larry is willing to work with me on any project and listen the our ideals. It is hard to find someone that will listen to what you have learned and work with you to make a good product.
I am hoping that with some of these new parts coming out that we will be able to offer a good reliable high HP package like we do on our other engines. Thanks again, Keith Craft

Jay, can you compare adjuster end weight between stock rockers and the T&D rockers? Thanks RWJ

But at the moment my only stock rocker is not in my possession. I'll have a stock adjustable rocker in my hand again in a few days, and weigh the ends then.

Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC

Jay,

Please let us know how the actual ratio stacks up as well when you get a chance to check it out.

Roger

Roger, I took the factory adjustable rocker that I have and measured the peak valve lift with zero lash. It was 0.673". Then I measured the same thing with three of the T&D rockers, and they measured 0.677", 0.678" and 0.681". So, the T&D rockers seems to have essentially the same ratio as the stockers.



Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC

Imagine if everybody made parts that work right out of the box. It would take all the fun out of the whole SOHC deal wouldn't it?



1912 Model T Ford touring Salmon (ugh!)
1913 Model T Ford Touring original Black paint
1915 Model T Ford Roadster Black
1915 Model T Ford touring Black of course!
1967 Cougar GT 390 Cardinal Red / Black
1968 Cougar GTE 427 Augusta Green / Saddle
http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/15029/50071-2

Think of all the great times I would have missed if I'd had a decent set of rockers to start with. Why, I would have missed all those times changing out rockers at the side of the road, and I really didn't want to go racing at Memphis and Bowling Green again anyway, or win that $2K Drag Week prize. The tow truck driver sure was fun to talk to. I could go on and on

Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC

Jay, you mean Walter Brenan the tow truck driver? Haha, it's funny now.

I'm glad you got the T&D rockers, I hope they work out. Are you going to fire the big motor with the Cal-Custom intake on it, or are you using the one from Drag Week?

Maybe you should drop that Cammer into you pickup and drive it to work all winter. If it lives thru that, maybe I will go on Drag Week with you again.

I'll be using the sheet metal intake with your polished Cal Custom cover. That cover has got to be worth 20 HP. Of course, you are such a jinx that maybe I should replace the intake. Two years with you at Drag Week, and two grenaded engines. At least in 2007 we got back without a trailer...

Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC

They seem to look and measure up pretty impressively. Larry does some excellent good work, and the quality shows. I felt the same way when I got my FE shaft set-up from him - you definitely get what you pay for...

Those look great and seem to fit very nice in such a restricted area.

I did have to do some inside end clearancing on my BT cast pentroofs, but it was no big deal...

Pushrods look pretty close to the top of the pushrod holes. I had to clearance that area on my intake.

but the T&Ds fit very well, and didn't come close in the number of clearance issues the Dove HD setup presented. After the head prep, the T&D's were bolt on and go!

I like the T+D setup and probably won't look back.
The HD Doves are pretty good in that they have the extra support on the ends from the head bolts for use with decent rate valve springs. I guess there could be some clearance issues with valve covers though.

but with the pent roof BT valve covers, both the end supports and covers needed to be clearanced. There was also rocker to cover clearance issues at the oil fills given the cover splash guard. The only drawback with the T&D's was the required head machining, but in the end they seem stronger, they are better quality - and if needed - R&R rocker service is a breeze. I definitely won't be looking back....

Yeah, R+R sure is a lot easier now.

It's more than worth it to get every head machined. Was glad to get those Ersons off. Didn't care for those at all. Deflection wasn't bad at around 400-450 lbs open pressure on a hydraulic flat tappet but there was too much deflection at the center 2 rockers with mild solid street roller springs at about 580 lbs open.

I should get rid of the 2 sets of Ersons and get a spare T+D setup. LOL

but with the T&D's, you'll not likely need a spare set... unless you're building a second motor! LOL!

deflection on your Ersons. I have a bigger spring and haven't seen any problems with mine, but that's not to say it isn't happening. I haven't broken anything, but not real fond of the stands.

Hi Dale.

I had Ersons on a stocker motor just to fire it up a few times and after noticing the butterfly like marks on the valve tips on the center two valves on another motor running Ersons with Comp 955 springs (about 580-600 lbs open), my brother measured the deflection of the shaft with a dial indicator. Unfortunatley we didn't measure the actual deflection of the shafts with the 955 springs since I already had the heads off that motor.

The deflection at the end stands was .002 and .003 between the center rockers where there is no support. The springs on the stocker motor are around 450 open. The valve tips on this motor did not show the funny wear pattern.

With the 955 springs the weird wear pattern showed up on both heads only on the center 2 valves. I wish I would have measured the actual numbers but I'm assuming that it is allowing the rockers to move around more than the .003 with the stronger springs.

The stocker motor has iron heads and the 955 springs were on Edelbrocks. The Edelbrocks had the helicoils removed and replaced with solid inserts for the rocker stand studs. Both sets of Ersons only had maybe an hour of run time. In fact the motor with the 955 springs was not revved much over 4500 RPM. I just idled around the neighborhood to make sure the C4 was working OK and waiting for the new motor.

Not too scientific but I think somewhere between 450 and 600 lbs the skinny Erson shaft begins to deflect enough to cause a weird motion of the center rockers. I ran the 955 springs with the iron LR stands, thick standard diameter shaft, and HS rockers and did not have this happen.








You might consider going to the T+D setup as long as you have oiling to the lifters. It's a lot more convenient and seems a lot stronger. It's a pretty simple machining procedure.



Who knows though, maybe that one particular pair of Ersons is the only one that does this. Seems to me that with the skinny shafts, the Ersons need another support in the center between the middle rockers. But I'm no engineer.

Jay, is there an oil hole for the bearing and cam lobe????? If not you would want to drill one. Early Cammer rockers omitted this hole which might have been a cause of cam/rocker failures. I'd hate to see you have any further problems. Good luck!!

Steve

Steve, there are two oil holes drilled in the rocker body, one sending oil to the adjuster and valve stem, and the other to the roller. Pretty much the same arrangement as the stock rockers.

Jay Brown
1968 Shelby GT 500 Convertible, 492" 667 HP FE
1969 R code Mach 1, 490" supercharged FE, 9.35 @ 151.20, 2007 Drag Week Runner Up, Power Adder Big Block
2005 Ford GT, 2006 Drag Week Winner, 12.0 Daily Driver
1969 Ford Galaxie XL, 460 (Ho Hum....)
1964 Ford Galaxie 500, 510" SOHC