My local speed shop was able to find me a pair of TFS heads, I am presently mocking them up on my 59s 428, to check rocker geometry and pushrod length. I will be retaining my Oregon Cams mild solid flat tappet cam, and rocker supports, with Isky iron rockers.So far, it looks like I will need to have the rocker stands machined down about .220", that gets the maximum lift, and the rocker arms pretty much level at mid lift, however, I am wondering about the contact pattern on the valve tip. The Isky rockers are not roller tip, they have a rounded , hardened wear tip at the valve end, similar to the factory FE adjustable rocker arms, so I imagine that my pattern will be a bit wider than a roller tip. I am at about .090" wide pattern, but also the pattern is not quite centered on the valve, rather it is a bit closer to the inside (intake manifold side). Just wondering if Brent , Barry or anybody else has used the TFS heads with a non roller tip rocker, and what the pattern looked like? Also, the heads I have have the larger 1.55" valve springs, which are doubles, with a damper. So likely a bit stiff for my mild flat tappet cam. So I will test the springs without the inners, if that doesn`t look OK, was wondering if the heads sold with the smaller 1.46" valve springs have smaller spring pockets, or if the heads are all machined the same. If I get the stands cut down .220", looks like I will be needing pushrods in the 9.450-9.50" range. Does all this sound reasonable? All my other FE heads have been iron Cobra Jets, so I never really paid much attention to stand height, and never really had any issues, but the TFS`s change all that. I gotta say, I was rather surprised at how much valve lift if affected by the stand heights, as well as how soon the valves stant to open.
