LS4 Front-Drives 2005-2010 - rockers n stuff

rockers are a flying success!!!!

one of the best mods i have done to date. had to grind the corners on four of them to clear the head, other then that, straight forward install. there is actually quite a bit of room once the rear coil packs are off the car, so if and when headers come out, it really won't be that hard to do em.

first run, 45 punch, barked the tires when i flat footed it. no biggie, around 4700 rpms. oh hell, it's a whole new car! first gear at wot is completely useless regardless of rpm now.

car is still as quiet as stock, aside from mufflers.

also did a catch can while i was in there, lil turbo XS one i shoved down in the drivers side fenderwell. mounted it to the frame rail under the head light, and ran the hoses up to the pcv lines. no brainer really.
today is shift kit day, i hope the mess is worth it!


review on the zzp shift kit comming later.

p.s. im runnin the same rockers BADD is, the harland sharp 1.8's for the ole ls1

i think this may have conviced me to do a cam

So you guys are saying the rockers are getting rid of that towing cam feeling?

Badd - does it climb like the Z's LS1 now?

three is still a lag in it, but it is not as noticable now, it actually wants to pull

ur already running a cam arent u? which one?

stock cam for now. i have yet to find someone that will let me use a cradle jack to lower the subframe down.

I was thinking about doing rockers and the whole shot. I've never done it on any car before though. I was just wondering what it involves. Mostly when you have to tighten up the rockers. I have the Helm manual and it says you have to put piston one at top dead center of the compression stroke then you can tighten cylinders 1,2,7 and 8 exhaust valve rockers and so on. I was just wondering if you have to follow those instructions.

I was thinking about doing rockers and the whole shot. I've never done it on any car before though. I was just wondering what it involves. Mostly when you have to tighten up the rockers. I have the Helm manual and it says you have to put piston one at top dead center of the compression stroke then you can tighten cylinders 1,2,7 and 8 exhaust valve rockers and so on. I was just wondering if you have to follow those instructions.


nope, pretty much just take the old ones off.
well i shouldn't say just that. do it when the car is cold, it hurts when it's warm

pull the coil packs {back sucks} using a 10 mm deep socket, the one on the front side by the PS pump is a pain in the ass.
the 4 center bolts on the valve covers are 8mm
thestock bolts holding the stock rockers down are 8 mm {you might break a couple sockets here} after that, it all depends on the rockers you use. i went with ones i don't have to adjust, torque to 22 ft lbs, turn the motor over a couple times {with covers off, coil packs unhooked, and fuel pump fuses pulled} check torque again, put covers on, turn motor over to make sure they don't hit the covers.

just a helpful word of advice, get some feeler gauges to check the clearance on the corner rockers. we had to grind the corners down a bit to get them to clear. put it all back together. let it warm up. it will make noise when you first put them on, it will go away.

go out for a drive, feel the wonderful funness of it all.

did you take the plugs out and get that spark plug adapter that connects to an air compressor so the valves don't fall in?? Or is there a way to make sure the piston is up so they don't fall in?? Thanks for the help

did you take the plugs out and get that spark plug adapter that connects to an air compressor so the valves don't fall in?? Or is there a way to make sure the piston is up so they don't fall in?? Thanks for the help

you don't have to do that, i didn't change springs, just the rockers alone, stock push rods, stock springs. 1.8 rockers

Umm i didnt have to grind anything... they had plenty of clearance, even the baffles under the valve covers... shouldve taken pics of what you were reffering to then...

I got to thinking. this could be a cheap and easy upgrade for all, on the cheap.

Could one Order 16 exhaust rockers for an LS7. They are roller like your stock, but are a 1.8 ratio.

Order, or buy off the forums some "yellow" LS6/LS2 valvesprings.

For a real low price, you'll be able to enjoy higher lift and no valve float, and the ability to extend your useable power band to 6500.

i wonder if anyones done this?? i know the intake rockers are offset, and can't be used, but what about the exhaust rockers?

so ur seeing a noticable performance increase by just changing rockers... stock spring and cam. and how much for the rockers, where can we order them from?

Umm i didnt have to grind anything... they had plenty of clearance, even the baffles under the valve covers... shouldve taken pics of what you were reffering to then...

thats the messed up part. unless there was a slight casting change from 05-06. being that mine is an 05, it would seem half ass logical. dunno, it's gm, i don't ask anymore.

when you pull the valve covers off, it is right in the corners of the head, the two farthest outside rockers. did nothing to the valve covers, didn't need too. they said they fit under stock covers, and they do. what i'll do is take the pic that you posted, do a lil ms pait job on it and show the rest of the people, and your self where it was hitting.


yes there is a noticable difference, to be expected, more lift. i got the same ones that BADD did, the harland sharp 1.8's for ls1's 389 from summit, i did a 2 day air thing on so it came out to be 413. no biggie.

im trying to get away from putting the bottle on the car again really, so far, 1st gear under WOT is useless. then again, it is below 20 degrees here right now, so traction is going to suck anyways.
:)
edit: pic added for clarification
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rockercorner.jpg

the corner of said rocker in the corners {the black circled area} didn't have to take much off of it, just make .10-.15 to get it to clear the .10 feeler gauge. lik ei said, it may be something in the casting of the heads.

Well that picture is mine that you posted, I can tell by the white glob of grease on the side of the rocker. It it only looks tight because of the angle...

The castings will not fluctuate something substancial like that from engine to engine.

There was about and 1/8th gap from that rocker to the head on mine when looking at the right angle... Not .010"!!!! Take your front VC of and take a picture for us please!

I will in about an hour of mine.

Here is those shots of rocker clearance on MY car. Tight, but adequate and no grinding needed. The heads come from the same casting mold, im pretty sure the amount of material isnt going to very that much! So please post pictures of YOUR dilema so that we can all see what you are talking about.

It only took me 3 minutes with a cordless impact and a 10mm deepwell and a 8mm socket to get it this far to show everyone so they are not mis informed.

NOTE: Both the pass side and driver side rockers have the same clearance.

Pass side front corner clearance...
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/930/img0002id1.jpg

Driver side front corner...
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3932/img0003pt9.jpg

And and engine compartment shot of MY car... sorry for the filthyness of it but its very much winter and -7 outside right now.
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/287/img0004yo0.jpg

well, here are some pics
may not show exactly the issue, but will give clarification.
both drivers side.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker8.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker6.jpg
passenger side
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker5.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker3.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker2.jpg


all of em
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Area47/rocker4.jpg


when i put them on, the corners were sitting right on the edge of the head. i, myself felt the need to have more clearance then the width of a hair. when they were torqued down, the rockers had new marks on them.

dunno, but there ya go!

aside from my feelings on the clearance {im anal sue me} they are a direct fit, plug and play so to speak, torque, and go play with the new found power

for those not wanting to do a cam, i suggest these!

it's clear by the pictures that you both have different rockers.

it's clear by the pictures that you both have different rockers.
thats what i was thinking as well

csp-sls18 is the part number that i have on my car.

Good point Dan!

Yeah looks like mine have a more pointy end where the push rod comes in. The sides are scalloped.

I wonder if those are for a regular SBC and got accidently packaged as a LS1 kit lol

dunno? could be?
im not having any problems with them, soooooooooooo. dunno?

edit: sent an e-mail to randy at harland to see whats going on with them. i'll let ya know what i find out later on them. now it's going to bug me till i know for sure whats going on, but they don't make a bolt on series for sbc. so who knows?
:judge:

I was looking at those on the HS website. SLP also has 1.85's that fit LS6 heads too. I think the SLP's are modified stock rockers though. At least there are a couple of choices out there.

-Mike

I was looking at those on the HS website. SLP also has 1.85's that fit LS6 heads too. I think the SLP's are modified stock rockers though. At least there are a couple of choices out there.

-Mike

there is a bunch of choices out there, i just went with non adjustables that were not 700 bucks

Bryan,

The picture shows that yours are the earlier design before we started removing more material for better clearance.

I can’t tell you what ratio they are from that view.

Thanx

Randy



from harland sharp.
so, if you get the old body like i have, you have to grind just a tad, nothing major. if you get the new ones like BADD has. you're golden

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mgpeagle
I was looking at those on the HS website. SLP also has 1.85's that fit LS6 heads too. I think the SLP's are modified stock rockers though. At least there are a couple of choices out there.

-Mike


there is a bunch of choices out there, i just went with non adjustables that were not 700 bucks

SLP site says 12hp gain - seems like a lot of work & $$$ for 12hp.

http://www.slponline.com/view_product.asp?P=50185

SLP site says 12hp gain - seems like a lot of work & $$$ for 12hp.

http://www.slponline.com/view_product.asp?P=50185

Heres what Vinci dynoed there Impala at with 1.8 rockers.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f61/botsie/06IMPALASS079ROCKERSGRAPH.jpg

SLP site says 12hp gain - seems like a lot of work & $$$ for 12hp.

http://www.slponline.com/view_product.asp?P=50185

as of right now, we as a whole don't have many options unless you want to start tearing into the motor.

you can feel it, more so uptop then anything else. dunno, just me thinking. if i can get some friends of mine off their ass at ATI i could get a kit made for the ls4 cars

Get them off their asses!!! Would be nice just to buy one kit.

as of right now, we as a whole don't have many options unless you want to start tearing into the motor.

you can feel it, more so uptop then anything else. dunno, just me thinking. if i can get some friends of mine off their ass at ATI i could get a kit made for the ls4 cars

I hear you ...

SD's graph shows a 25 hp gain. I'd do it for 25.

Like you said, if I can feel it on the top end, that's where I use the car at anyway. Too freaking cold here to do anything now.

i'll be going to the dyno saturday, we'll see what the true numbers are from before, and now

so i think im gonna hold off on doing just rocker arms. talked to the engine teacher at school. he is curently building a 1000 hp motor and knows hiWell, standard rocker ratio for our engines are 1.7:1 and that is basically giving you .7 times more lift than your camshafts lift pattern. Using 1.8 will give you more lift. If you look up the lobe lift on your camshaft and multiply it by 1.8, this will give the total lift at the valve. Yes it is possible to gain more lift with 1.8 ratio and more air in the cylinder. Things to consider are piston to valve clearance and valve spring bind, if you do not upgrade your valve springs they may either bind, float or prematurely wear out and then allow the valve to hit the pistons stuff. he told me this,

so i think im gonna hold off on doing just rocker arms. talked to the engine teacher at school. he is curently building a 1000 hp motor and knows hiWell, standard rocker ratio for our engines are 1.7:1 and that is basically giving you .7 times more lift than your camshafts lift pattern. Using 1.8 will give you more lift. If you look up the lobe lift on your camshaft and multiply it by 1.8, this will give the total lift at the valve. Yes it is possible to gain more lift with 1.8 ratio and more air in the cylinder. Things to consider are piston to valve clearance and valve spring bind, if you do not upgrade your valve springs they may either bind, float or prematurely wear out and then allow the valve to hit the pistons stuff. he told me this,


thats a given actually.

im not sticking with the stock springs forever. i have other plans.
but for right now, i don't have any float within the stock relm of rpm range.