428 PI/CJ Hydraulic Flat Tappet Lifters w/Adjustable Rocker Arms

[8T03S1425]

Alright, I gotta let you guys know that I spoke with Doug of Precision Oil Pumps and ended up buying his rocker shaft assembly kit. It came in today and I have to say he makes a nice product. It came nicely packed and clearly labeled with everything required; including very clear instructions.

The rocker shafts have a thicker wall than the stock shafts and no sharp edges, anywhere. All oiling holes are nicely, grooved, smoothed, and gently radiused to ensure thorough oiling of the rocker arms. He uses threaded plugs to close off ends of the shaft whereas the stock shafts use a pressed in plug. He also uses external snap rings instead of cotter pins to lock the end rocker arms in place.

To support the shafts, I went with his billet end and middle stands. Since I'm using the end stands, the end rocker arms are held in place with the additional end support and the external snap rings aren't used. The shaft supports are split so they clamp the rocker shafts to the heads.

The adjustable roller tip rocker arms are also made of billet aluminum. They ride on pressed in bronze bushings. Rather than using one wide bushing per rocker, Doug presses in two narrower bushings, one from each side. They are wide enough to provide a nice bearing surface yet narrow enough to leave an narrow annular oil groove that is fed by the oil hole in the shaft. The annular oil groove provides oil to two small holes. One leads to the push rod cup and the other goes to the roller tip. The adjuster is an Allen drive stud that is cupped to accept a ball/ball push rod and grooved and drilled to channel oil to the top of the ball/ball push rod. The adjuster is locked via a 12 point jam nut.

I also opted for the rocker arm spacers made of billet aluminum, replacing the OEM springs that position the rocker arms along the shaft and against the shaft supports. Small gaps between the spacers and the rocker arms and between the rocker arms and the shaft stands are minimized even further with shims provided in the kit. Three shim thicknesses are provided, 0.060", 0.030" & 0.015".

Finishing out the valve actuating assembly are the ball/ball push rods. The push rods have different ends, top and bottom. The bottoms are half balls that rest in the lifter cups. The tops are balls suspended on short necks slightly narrower than the push rod. The undercut under the upper ball appears to be needed for clearance where the push rod contacts the rocker arm.

All in all, this is a very nice upgrade to the stock rocker arm assembly used on hydraulic lifter FEs, or even if compared to the OEM type adjustable rocker arm assemblies as used on solid lifter FEs. It seems simple enough to me. One negative though is that some of the rocker arms have to be honed with a wheel cylinder hone to provide enough clearance so that the rocker arms can be mounted on the shaft. The bronze bushing ID is slightly tight. This is something that Doug addresses on his website, a note in the kit, and when he talked with me about his product. Unfortunately, I need to get either a new hone or new stones that'll fit my hone.

I'll post some pictures of the actual upgrade. More to come.

I extend a sincere thank you to those of you that introduced this upgrade to me, either in this thread or via the forum PM feature. A big shout out to Keith (TheGoingThing). He provided some independent guidance and reassurance during this endeavor.

Steve

[gt350hr]

   Doug has been making FE rocker arms for over 35 years. Initially for FPP and quickly changed to "his own" branding. The geometry is excellent and they are super reliable.
    Randy

[8T03S1425]

Progress is has been slow on upgrading the valve train, and I'm now in a position that I'm ready to resume work, with a positive frame of mind.

One aspect of this upgrade that caused me to pause and research, involved me getting a better understanding of the FE oiling system and what I can do to improve its shortcomings. That was because I was told to use oil restrictors in the galleys that feed the rocker arm shafts. To this novice, restricting oil flow seemed like a risky alteration.

The most helpful and influential source of information is the membership of this forum. I also looked at forums specific to FE engines to fill in my gaps of understanding.

I found an article on the FordFE Info forum, and I wanted to share it with our "hands on" enthusiasts in the SAAC Forum. I'm sure that most of the guys that reached out to me already knew much of the info given in the article, but I'm also sure they still like a good technical article. This article really helps a guy like me. We can still work on the '60s/'70s era cars. They're pretty simple and if some of the unknown can be revealed, the confidence and fun factors go up. Working on these cars is half the fun of ownership. Driving them is the other 75% of the fun of ownership. 

Here's that article I mentioned.

http://www.fordfe.info/Forum/Oil.html

Steve

[The Going Thing]

More information than needed. However, if your mods weren't done before assembly it's too late now other than the restrictors, oil pump and drive.
You can't grind or drill at this juncture.