Any of you guys know if the Jesel Sportsman shaft rocker system will work under a stock DZ rocker cover? Jesel said it should but couldn't guarantee it...
Thanks,
Tski

Depends on the ratio, but it should fit. Jesel rocker stuff is awesome. I have used it since the early '80s in my race motors. I had one of the first prototype belt drives for a SBC too. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I'll be running the 1.5 ratio set on a XR280R solid street roller 302. I'm hoping that with the thickest Felpro gasket it'll work. Thanks for the feedback!
Tski

Yes, they will with the FelPro 'Cork-Lam' cover gaskets, which are the thickest they offer (the ones with the steel core).

i don't see why they wouldn't fit under even a stock valve cover- the tallest part (the stud) is eliminated.

yes - what I wanted to hear!
Thanks, Tski

Steve,
you seem to have some experience with the Jesel stuff and was wondering if you could give me some pointers? I went to install the shaft rockers to determine the pushrod length and found the pushrod hole through the head is not large enough. It looks like it needs to be opened up towards the intake manifold to get the clearance and angle right to the rocker cup. The guy that CNC ported my heads said the thru holes for the pushrods were opened up all ready, which make sense because the heads had screw in studs and guide plates previously. This mock up is with no head gasket, I was just going to add the .041" to the checker for final length. The cup adjuster is set at 1 turn out which is the factory setting. Take a look at the pics and see if you can understand what I saying. I really wish Jesel was open on the weekends!!!! I was hoping to get the pushrods today from the local speed shop but I will have to wait till Monday now. Any advice? Do the pushrod holes look stock or modified? Do you know what the stock thru hole diameter is? How much can you open up the holes before hitting the intake port? The heads were CNC ported (186 heads flowing 257 cfm @ .050" ;) ) Sorry for being so long and sooooo many questions.
Thanks,
Craig

Side View from front
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~tski/images/P1010011.JPG

Isometric view
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~tski/images/P1010009.JPG

Pushrod hole
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~tski/images/P1010008.JPG

I had to open up the push-rod holes toward the intake manifold with my TFS heads as well.......and I might add, it was quite a-bit.

Your 186 push-rod holes do look stock and you can move the holes towards the intake quite a-bit before you actually get into the intake track. I would recommend calling Jesel to get their interpritation on this situation concerning the 186 head holes.

that "dummy" pushrod looks like its a bit bigger in diameter than a stock pushrod. did you take that into consideration?

The set-up push rod is 0.3750"..........

Chicane is right, you normally do have to tweak the pushrod holes towards the intake surface of the head. It is just due to the Jesel shaft straightening out the geometry a bit. You may need to look at your valve cover gaskets too, as it can be a pain to modify them if you are using some with a steel core. I used some that came from Mr. Gasket with a notch in them for Jesel use. Or, use a cork one and you can trim them yourself. It is worth the extra effort to get it set up right, the Jesel shafts are light-years better than any OEM setup.

Thanks for the input, I haven't built too many engines and am a bit hesitant about setting off with a grinder. Since I have to open up the pushrod holes should I just go with 3/8" or stick with the 5/16" pushrods? The cam is a XR280R street roller from Comp with the 977 dual springs (155 lb seat and 419 lb open). Comp said the 5/16" pushrods will work fine, but....

Thanks again guys,
Craig

Originally posted by Tski:
Thanks for the input, I haven't built too many engines and am a bit hesitant about setting off with a grinder. Since I have to open up the pushrod holes should I just go with 3/8" or stick with the 5/16" pushrods? The cam is a XR280R street roller from Comp with the 977 dual springs (155 lb seat and 419 lb open). Comp said the 5/16" pushrods will work fine, but....

Thanks again guys,
Craig Do yourself a favor and keep the 5/16" pushrods...they will do just fine.

The key is to buy a top quality chromoly pushrod. I myself feel that the Manley Pro Series swedged end one piece pushrods are about as good as it gets before you get into the custom race stuff like Mantons, etc. Expect to pay about $140 a set for the Manleys...money well spent and the 5/16" diameter will only help your head pushrod hole clearance issue.

Tski,

The baffles in the stock DZ valve covers are going to interfere with the shaft rocker setup. In fact, the baffles won't even clear the roller fulcrum on my Comp Pro Magnum rockers. Let me know what you end up doing. I'm looking for a way to run my stock valve covers without hacking them up. -Neil

'Stock' DZ covers have baffles???? I thought stock had no baffles and the repos/LT1 had baffles.

Craig

Yes, the original covers have baffles under the oil fill and EGR holes. The original covers do not have the oil drippers above the rocker arms. The baffles are approximately 1 inch wide and will definitely interfere with a shaft rocker setup. They are easily removed, but you'll need to create a new type of baffle to keep from clogging the EGR. I also don't think the original baffles can be reomved without destoying them, but I need to take another look at them.

Whoops. Please replace 'EGR' with 'PCV' in the above response.

I was thinking the drippers - not the baffles. I will probally have the run a spacer that I will 'blend' into the head for hopefully a stock appearance. Should be interesting to say the least. I'll let ya know how it goes. The heads are going back for pushrod clearance issues I'm having currently.
Tski

I was thinking about running spacers too. B&B Performance makes them if you don't want to custom fab them.

Those are the ones I was looking at also - another $93, this shaft system seems to be getting more and more expensive.