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Looking for feedback on 440Source roller rockers

funknut

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At the end of the good weather season I had a problem with one of my crane gold roller rockers and it died a sad death. I'm looking for another set now and came across the 440Source roller rockers for what seems to be around half the cost ($320 incl. shims, spacers and alum. hold-downs) compared to other name brand roller rockers that are in the $600+ range.

Cam is a .545 lift hydraulic flat tappet and I'll be installing the Comp 924 springs, so spring pressures are pretty moderate.

Does anyone have personal experience with these (quality/longevity)?
 
I ran mine with a Hughes Whiplash Cam. Spring pressures weren't insane, and that was purely for a street application. Ran 13.00's at the track. I know setting them up correctly plays a huge factor in longevity. I sold them when I went to a solid mechanical cam. Now I run Harland Sharps.
 
So I don’t have a specific answer to your question. But I just watched an Engine Masters where they tested out factory stamped vs roller rockers. Tons of great info, too bad right now it’s only for their subscribers. However, the nut of it was that roller rockers really only give you a performance boost (20hp on a 500hp engine) at very high RPM levels 5500-7000 with most of the gains kicking in around 6k. Most of their gains were also from the fact that the highest hp producing setup was with 1.6 rockers. 1.5 was about 10hp gain.

This test was on a 350 built to run at 7k.

What I took away, for a typical street machine, rollers are overkill.
 
My dad yanked his off his 505 after “hearing” them all the time. Said they were just “too damn noisy”....but no problems with using them.
 
Well my question is what caused your more expensive roller rockers to brake and did you find the problem, also why not just replace the ones that broke and stay with the better parts, also i run chines rockers Not (440sourse) and have gone best of 10.36 @ 129 and they still are working perfect, but like 5.7 hemi said they are noise and seem to loosen after 3-4 races on a hydraulic cam, but i do use a 250-275 shot of Nitrous.
 
Thanks for the feedback. On the failed rocker the adjuster bolt backed out and the pushrod damaged the rocker. I checked the rest and several of the adjuster lock nuts on that side were not staying tight. Inspecting the rockers, it appears the lock nuts were severely over torqued by the previous owner and damaged the threads on at least 6 of the rockers.

At this point I’d rather replace them all. If the 440 Source kit is decent quality it would be a rather inexpensive solution.

Thanks for the input so far.
 
Looking forward to more replies. I have a brand new set of 440 Source rockers, never used on the shelf. Read some bad reviews before I installed them & went with Hughes for now. In the old days ran the Crane Golds for over 1,000 runs before seeing some galling, with above 500# open pressure & 7000+ rpm.
 
A friend of mine was putting together a stroked 400 and used the 440 source rockers... The machine shop called me and said while putting the rockers on, the shaft lock nuts started popping off...in fact during the call one shot off and made an audible ping while on the phone! Swapped to arp hardware and was ok, but switched over to the comp cams pro magnums after a couple hundred miles .....rollers were overkill for the motor, but he insisted on them.
 
I have never used 440 scorce anything,Not saying they are bad,,,,,,not saying they are good.What I will say is buy the best you can.Maybe last longer,maybe less flex causing stuff to loosen up,better is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BETTER!

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At the end of the good weather season I had a problem with one of my crane gold roller rockers and it died a sad death. I'm looking for another set now and came across the 440Source roller rockers for what seems to be around half the cost ($320 incl. shims, spacers and alum. hold-downs) compared to other name brand roller rockers that are in the $600+ range.

Cam is a .545 lift hydraulic flat tappet and I'll be installing the Comp 924 springs, so spring pressures are pretty moderate.

Does anyone have personal experience with these (quality/longevity)?
Perhaps a call to 440 Source would reveal who manufactures their rockers and that might make your choice a bit easier. Don't be surprised if you can't find any reviews on their product, there seldom is on substandard parts. That's not to say their actually substandard, you may be one of many guinea pigs in the marketplace. The price seems a bit low for some reason and best you find out why because $320 now could equate to a few thousand later in a trashed engine. Call and ask the tough questions.
 
So I don’t have a specific answer to your question. But I just watched an Engine Masters where they tested out factory stamped vs roller rockers. Tons of great info, too bad right now it’s only for their subscribers. However, the nut of it was that roller rockers really only give you a performance boost (20hp on a 500hp engine) at very high RPM levels 5500-7000 with most of the gains kicking in around 6k. Most of their gains were also from the fact that the highest hp producing setup was with 1.6 rockers. 1.5 was about 10hp gain.

This test was on a 350 built to run at 7k.

What I took away, for a typical street machine, rollers are overkill.

agreed but they did also mention that rollers we easier on wearing down the valves so for longevity maybe something to consider with a performance oriented engine.
 
Get some ductile iron rockers and not ever have a worry.
 
agreed but they did also mention that rollers we easier on wearing down the valves so for longevity maybe something to consider with a performance oriented engine.
Possibly but I would bet that 99% of the street engines on this forum barely get used enough for longevity of a part to be a concern.
 
Thanks everyone. Based on your input and some threads over at moparts it seems like these are sketchy enough to avoid. I’ll be looking at the Crane and Comp iron rockers. The Harland Sharps In 1.5 ratio seem competitively priced as well.

Much appreciated.
 
roller rockers may be easier on the tips
but not so much if the geometry is correct and lash caps used
what is VERY easy to do with roller rockers (and easy enough with stock rockers) is valve guide wear if valve train is not dialed in
 
x2 on there. Mine have seen 7k rpms a bunch, adjustment never budged.
Mancini should have a Christmas sale coming up.
Good to know on the Christmas sale. I have $4k if parts to buy. I need all the help I can get.
 
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