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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Solid Rocker Spacers

Posted by: SLKWrx Sep 22 2005, 09:38 AM

Can anyone give me a lesson on the benefits of a solid rocker spacer as opposed to the stock springs? I saw a set on ebay and I'm confused now.

-- Steve

Posted by: SLITS Sep 22 2005, 10:00 AM

The theory is that the rockers could move toward each other at elevated rpms and side load the valves or eventually miss the valve head completely due to the fact they are only located by a weak spring. The solid spacers eliminate this potential problem.

Now, how high of an rpm would you have to turn before this could happen or will it actually happen at all....that is the question.

For the $25 he charges for them....they certainly add "bling" to an engine as long as you have an audience while adjusting valves or you can gain a personal "woody" just knowing they are there.

Posted by: SLKWrx Sep 22 2005, 10:59 AM

But there is no downside to having the solid spacers as opposed to the springs?

As for the rpm.. I'm not going up to any extreme numbers, very mild mods.

Posted by: hmeeder Sep 22 2005, 11:11 AM

Hydraulic lifter buses had the solid spacers, which makes them relatively common (and potentially cheaper at your local pick-a-part.) Jake prefers them on his motors for the reasons stated above. When I took my motor apart a couple of my pshrods had rub marks on their sides from where the rocker walked offcenter of the valve stem.

I haven't looked at the ebay ad, but if you do get them, make sure they have the wavy springs. They're worthless without them.

Posted by: SLKWrx Sep 22 2005, 11:19 AM

Wavy Springs? I may have just read it quickly, but it looked like there were no springs involved.

Posted by: SLITS Sep 22 2005, 11:28 AM

He cuts them out of aluminum and allows for some clearance....no wavy washers to load the spacers....Yeh, I bought a set of them just to see what they were.

Edit: I never installed them as I lost one before I got around to using them.

Posted by: Brett W Sep 22 2005, 12:01 PM

With the double springs you need to run the spacers. I would have a local shop make some and have them speced to your rocker spacing. The ones I had were a little short and so the rockers had some excess side play. You could here the rockers moving side to side when the engine was running. With custom made spacers you can tailor the length to your engine.

I never had a problem but you may want to upgrade the rocker studs in the head to something bigger.