Aluminum Heads & Ductile Iron Rockers

[PurpleBeeper]

I'm running old iron heads (stock valves) with old Isky ductile iron adjustable rocker arms on my 440. I'm thinking about (maybe dreaming) buying some aluminum heads with larger valves. Can I use my ductile iron rockers with aluminum heads?

FYI-It's a mild hydraulic cam street motor with a MILE of piston/valve clearance, at least with the stock valves it's got almost 1/4" clearance (valve reliefs in L2295 TRW's with domes milled off)...I will re-clay the clearance.

 

[moper]

Yes. Check spring to rocker clearance, and check rocker sweep to verify it's all good. But most heads that take stock rocker gear will work fine with them provided the valve job is done properly. And any aluminum heads bought new need to have that checked and probably fixed.

 

[RT K_line]

I'm running ductile rockers on eddys with larger valves with no problems. The only thing I found is that you can't use 1.6 rockers without opening up the push rod opening. I did buy them when they first came out though so improvements may have been made for more clearance.

 

[threewood]

I'm running Crane ductile 1:5 on top of 440 Stealth heads without any issue. Even these need the pushrod channels opened up a bit. No issue with spring keeper interference.

 

[Zeppelin264]

Stealths, Iron Ductiles, Hydraulic cam. No issues to date. Other than the JUNK springs 440source supplies with their heads. Had one break on mine, and of course when I call them, the cam specs changed for amount of lift their springs can handle....

 

[5.7 hemi]

My dad bought some Stealths years ago and they said their springs were good for .600 lift, now they say .510.

 

[HT413]

Same for me - ductile iron and stealths. 3/8" pushrods will need clearancjng with the 1.5's no matter the rockers.

 

[Zeppelin264]

My dad bought some Stealths years ago and they said their springs were good for .600 lift, now they say .510.

I had a very long conversation with their tech guy about this. I was so pissed off! Went with a Lunati spring and so far haven't had any issues.

 

[HT413]

I'm no machinist, but if you look closely at the spring offerings from Lunati and compare them with Comp, many are exactly same dimension and spec. I'd bet those lunati springs are made on the same line along side the Comp.