POSTING PICS AND UPDATES THE RESTORATION AS IT UNFOLDS ON MY 69 DAYTONA CLONE

[kevs1969daytona]

Oh shit have you got Many domage?

Not to sure it still runs, but won't dear start until its looked at.

[farm966]

Sorry to hear that, but I am glad to hear the engine builder is going to stand behind it.

[XS29L9B2]

Oh shit have you got Many domage?

Not to sure it still runs, but won't dear start until its looked at.

Ok i am sorry for you :-(

[kevs1969daytona]

Ok figured out what the no oil pressure problem was and as you can see by the pic the push rod went through the rocker arm and lifter came out.  It's been fixed at no cost runs much better now, no other damage.  Car now is at the suspension shop for an alignment, some of the front end is 50 years old and needs replacing.

[A383Wing]

you sure that the oil holes in the bottom of the rocker shaft are pointing the correct direction?

[chargervert]

I think you got lucky that it was just a rocker arm issue!  Glad to hear that you didn't have to pull the car all apart again.

[kevs1969daytona]

So the car is home now, the suspension shop had a field day, the tie rods are 50 years old the sleeves that adjusts the aliment they twisted off like pieces of licorice, because of 50 years of rust.  Anyways $1600 cdn later the front end is, well brand new.   But to be honest it drives like new now.  The best part of the car when driving is hands down the TREMEC.  It was worth every penny, it is so much fun driving the car with the manual.  No BS at 60 miles an hour in 5th gear its at 1500 rpm.

[triple_green]

What else do you have planned to do?

[kevs1969daytona]

Headliner needs to be put in (already have a legendary headliner) , get correct seat belts, paint the wing same color as the body (already priced out at $400 cdn) thinking of getting some BFG T/A's thinking of going with 295 50 15 in the back 245 60 15 in the front.  Then she pretty much done. Maybe for Christmas will get a wood grain dash.  But the car today is driveable, runs great, just today finally got the hood turn signals to work.  The connection was rusty where the bulb goes took me a couple of hours to narrow it down.

[djcarguy]

 

[kevs1969daytona]

Well it happened again busted a rocker arm.  Anyone who is building an engine don't use 50 year old parts they a worn down.   Did not lose oil pressure this time.  Got a new set of roller rockers put in next few days, planning of taking the car to the Western Mopar Madness on the 27th July supposed to be 500 mopars from across the West there hers the link will take some pics.

http://emawmm.com/

[70 sublime]

But where do all those little metal bits that break out end up ?

[moparstuart]

But where do all those little metal bits that break out end up ?

hopefully he has a big magnetic  oil plug  and that will only get some 

[kevs1969daytona]

Cap is still here, will do an oil change, guess thats all I can do at this point.

[tan top]

bummer sorry to see this 

don't quote me on this I might be talking crap & or remembering something I read !  wrong years ago,
weren't stock  mopar stamped steel stock rockers limited to cam lift / spring  pressure, because of push rods poking holes in them ! & that was the reason mopar used HD ones of sixpack motors , & offered HD ones over the counter, sure the old dc parts cataloge  listed part numbers  for HD ones  if ive got it wrong & or its  not exactly what ive mentioned , forget what ive just said 

[Highbanked Hauler]

SO is this something we ALL have to look out for , I ask as my 440 has 94,000 miles on it and I never thought twice about it till I saw that ?

[kevs1969daytona]

Not too sure not an engine "expert" but don't skimp out on an engine rebuild, guess all the springs, cam, everything was new a lot more pressure on the rockers I guess.  At least the engine is ok, just need new rockers and push rods.

[Highbanked Hauler]

Not too sure not an engine "expert" but don't skimp out on an engine rebuild, guess all the springs, cam, everything was new a lot more pressure on the rockers I guess.  At least the engine is ok, just need new rockers and push rods.

I am not an engine person either just wondered if thats an old rocker issue.

[70Sbird]

Not too sure not an engine "expert" but don't skimp out on an engine rebuild, guess all the springs, cam, everything was new a lot more pressure on the rockers I guess.  At least the engine is ok, just need new rockers and push rods.

I am not an engine person either just wondered if thats an old rocker issue.

I'm wondering if it's more of a "new" rocker quality issue or of too much lift/spring pressure for original stamped rockers.
If I remember correctly you need to be looking for better rockers once your cam lift goes over about .510" of valve lift. The original stamped rocker was well designed and was very robust. You just needed to be sure that the rocker shafts were installed correctly for proper oiling and the rockers even held their own little oil reservoir so no dry starts. I have only seen a scant few rocker failures of the cup end (like the OP's issue) on very high mile engines or tired engines with big cams installed. I have seen more bent BB Mopar pushrods than rocker ball end failures. for multiple failures like this on the same engine, there is something else happening such as too much valve spring pressure, too much lift or some combination of both.

Now onto a "new" parts issue when I built by stroker 440 for my Superbird the second time (the first time is documented here somewhere) I bought a set of Mopar Performance "HD stamped rockers" as they were supposed to be a heavier and more reinforced copy of the originals. They appeared to be OK out of the box, however when the engine was dyno'ed it came up low on power. after much head scratching and double checking everything we checked gross valve lift, the factory stamped rockers were 1.5:1 ratio. The actual measured ratio of my new out of the box MP rockers were anywhere from 1.28:1 to somewhere near 1.35:1! Effectively making the moderate street cam I had installed in the engine act like a cam more suited to a grain truck!  

My only point to this story is beware of and double check ALL of the parts you are installing for fit, function, quality and the compatibility of the whole system. In stock configuration the valvetrain in these old engines was pretty darn good and almost foolproof to install.

Just my $.02   whilch probably isn't worth half of the value of the copper....

[Aero426]

Now onto a "new" parts issue when I built by stroker 440 for my Superbird the second time (the first time is documented here somewhere) I bought a set of Mopar Performance "HD stamped rockers" as they were supposed to be a heavier and more reinforced copy of the originals. They appeared to be OK out of the box, however when the engine was dyno'ed it came up low on power. after much head scratching and double checking everything we checked gross valve lift, the factory stamped rockers were 1.5:1 ratio. The actual measured ratio of my new out of the box MP rockers were anywhere from 1.28:1 to somewhere near 1.35:1! Effectively making the moderate street cam I had installed in the engine act like a cam more suited to a grain truck!  

It's pretty hard for "Ma and Pa Kettle" suppliers to beat the millions of dollars of factory engineering that went into the original parts.     Time and again, new parts are proven to be substandard to OEM.     Doesn't matter if it is mechanical, electrical components or sheet metal.       We wrongly assume because it has the MP logo,  that it meets spec.    A lot of the aftermarket just sucks.

As robust as the OEM rockers are, I have to question whether something else is going on with the valvetrain.

[birdsandbees]

Yep considering the shit we did as teenagers to these things and I'm still spooling the same motor rebuilt in 1979 just as hard.... it wasn't a rockers fault. There's ZERO oil showing on said part...

[kevs1969daytona]

Ya what ever the problem it's a huge pain in my a**, car runs fine until a push rod destroys a rocker.  Has may 100 miles on engine.  

[kevs1969daytona]

The plot thinkens check out the bent push rod.

[hemi68charger]

Wow.. Man, sorry you're having to deal with this.....

[kevs1969daytona]

Guy who the build the engine is here now, thinks it was causing by the exhaust being trapped.