Quote from: XR7 on September 03, 2020, 03:11:36 PM

I would think that steel rockers are the direction to go. It looks like they can be strong even with a lot of material removal. I think on these Pontiac steel rockers, they had a 1" offset and the adjuster was on a 5* cant, maybe the cant would help you if you don't have any built in.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   It looks like they did the same as far as a bearing pocket for the side loads on these rockers, you can see the cant toward the pushrod on the adjuster end. Angled toward the pushrod.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       On these rockers, they have the aluminum version next to the steel versions on the same head, you can see how much more material they remove from the steel rocker compared to the aluminum (left and right mirror cylinders, but the same).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Here is an even bigger offset on a steel rocker for a Hemi I think.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Another steel rocker                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         On some high RPM engines I have seen aluminum on the intake and steel on the exhaust, for cylinder pressure, but you could certainly do it the other way around or just go with steel on both.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Cool pics of all kinds of high performance rockers!

Long ago, IIRC it was Jim Butcher who ran the very last Top Fuel dragster with a BBC engine. Not that competitive with the 426 Hemi-based entries but as the story goes, the engine kept losing exhaust rockers as the forces in a blown nitro engine were pretty fantasic for the stud mount arm. No one at the time made a really strong steel rocker to prevent said breakage as no one else ran a BBC on heavy loads of nitro and high 6-71 blower pressures. Today, a custom-designed rocker would not be such a deal breaker as back then, a supplier needed a ton of orders to justify even a small production run.

Wow, there's a trip down memory lane! Jim (Bucher) and I ran out of the same shop at that time. My only offering is that he was very competitive within the Top Fuel ranks in that era "IF" the mostly OEM castings stayed together. Big if, but he was seldom out-powered; most loses came from parts failures. Honestly, at that point in history, most TF losses could be attributed to OEM part failures. Additionally, Jim couldn't even consider running a Chev aluminum casting cylinder head because the burnout alone would snatch 1 to 3 of the exhaust rocker stud mounts completely off the head; not stripped threads but the entire chunk of the casting. Therefore he was forced to run cast iron while all his competitors ran aluminum heads. Keep in mind this was the time period when the Gen 1 Hemi was still the tool of choice for most upper tier TF racers. The Gen 2 Hemis were just beginning to garner a bit of attention and there were only a couple of Mark IV Rat motors competing in the entire US. Your premise is 100% correct, the parts selection we routinely take for granted in present day situations hadn't even begun to evolve. Thanks for posting.

Moroso has a replacement version with a magnet.

Try Del-City Wire. I've found, in stock there in the not too distant past, what you are seeking and without an outrageous minimum order.

True. I no longer attend either. The last few years I attended I only purchased shop supplies; not much FE stuff.

I sent an old pair of 4-into-1 collectors and they are due to be returned 7/10. The CoVid "home incarceration" delayed my shipping but there was no problems with pricing even though the original estimate was back in Mar.. This is simply a 40+ year old pair of collectors which happen to fit my current size primary pipes and I wanted to compare them on the dyno to the, more modern, merged style. "If", they exhibit improvement then I wanted them coated and ready to install. Thanks for offering the help with discount.

I left the old headliner in place as a pattern while the cage was fabricated, then had an upholstery shop remove that headliner and replace it with a new stock-type item. Headliner installation is labor (and experience) intensive to get it right.

21 days left in the USAF for me and I will hang up my "birds" and be a civilian...

Not really able to retire completely, but the idea is crazy to me right now, haven't wrapped my arms around not being in the military after 25.5 years.

Maybe I will be a Walmart greeter or maybe even wipe the carts, sounds like job security to me!

Congratulations and Thank You for your service! I had gleaned hints that retirement was closer than farther but had no idea it was this close