I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person on here that has to discuss things like this with their wife! I keep having to explain to my wife why I keep spending money and it doesn't look like there is any progress made on the build...


I think she's tired of stepping around the motor to get to her beach gear...

 

That engine could hold at least 8 beach umbrellas unless you are building something exotic. I'd have offered a visual aid but it seems that Bing and Google images are woefully behind on the subject of "engine with umbrella."

 

What a beautifully antagonistic response. Looking at the copy of the "Argument Pyramid" I keep posted over my desk - this reply, at best, responds to tone and is rife with ad hominems. No substance, no value.

How to win friends and influence people; this is not how to do it, kids.

Keep your precious results Mr. B. Robinson - no one cares.

ZDDP... I put that **** on everything!

 

Bam!!!

 

Can't go wrong with these

 

summary comparion of pros/cons:

stock:
pro: good wear, larger needles.
con: ability to scatter needles.

comp:
pro: retained bearings.
con: trunion surfaces wear quickly sheding steel particles (materials problem?); smaller needles (less load capacity).

bushing:
pro: no needles; higher load capacity; if it wears it sheds bronze/brass
particles (soft); will make noise when sufficiently worn (rather than failing).
con: sensitive to receiving lube via PR/rocker.

any other points...?

 

I have two sets running with restricted pushrods with no apparent problems, so I'm not sure they need high volumes of oil, just steady flow. The thing they don't like is dry start. Gets them squealing, not in a good way!

Kurt

 

I think it is worth noting that I've got some sets out there with Harland Sharp trunnion upgrades which are needle-type but a harder trunnion material than Comp, BTR, Summit. I'm going to offer a free set out to a few folks to send me back some examples with miles on them..then we can compare those too...unless some users are reading this? I got side-tracked this weekend but project "trunnionator" should be rolling this week with a pair of each type available.

 

[QUOTE=bbond105;19333795]I've been away from this thread for a few weeks and just learned of this, but still wanted to echo these thoughts on your loss as well. The pain of losing a mother OR father is particularly deep, very deep, and only family/friends and time will ease it a bit.
May she R.I.P.

 

I have tested the Harland Sharp kit, it looked better than the Comp, but the same results. The HS looked best as some where damaged only on the outer race, but the metal coming off was trapped in the bearing. I ran those about 5000 miles.

Kurt

 

Are you indicating that the wear was present on the inside of the outer race of the pressed-in bearing? When did you purchase those and do you have any samples still or even pics?

Thanks
Chris

 

I look at these, and valve springs, like I look at my pistons when people tell me that my 4.000" crank stroke is going to wear the piston skirts quicker. Figure if they wear out in 10,000 miles, I've got a solid 8-9 years before I have to worry about it.

 

The damage is in attached picture. It seems the damage might always start in the outer race as some rockers would only show visible damage in that outer race. Once that starts though it seems the trapped metal will start chewing on all the parts. The first time we found it was driven by metal "fairy dust" on the magnets I put in a custom dry sump can. We kept taking apart things until we found these rockers shedding.

Kurt

 

I see. That's the common bearing all of the kits seem to use. I should have some ~5K mile units run hard on a big-cam, big-spring setup in my hands soon and will look for the same thing.

Do you remember if this was in a straight or offset rocker?

Thanks

 

I'm not seeing Brobinson's posts and pictures as indicating a wear problem with the bushings that everyone seems to be trying to defend, but are the brass particles/shavings being created when the bushings are installed on the trunions. I think Chris even said something to the effect that they have changed their install procedure on the rockers they sell with the kits already installed.

 

Factory LS7 with both. Most that I do are LS3, but the problem doesn't seem to care about the offset. I will see 10 bad in a set, but the 6 good ones are mixed between int ex.

Kurt

 

The install is fairly simple, would be hard to mess up. The galling and squealing are from dry start, that they will not tolerate. Lube on the trunnion and bearing must be used in assembly as the clearance is tight enough that pouring oil over them may not work.

Kurt

 

Why is everyone missing that the 2nd set of pictures were rockers that were never run, so never dry started.

 

Let me be clear that I am not trying to discredit this product. I want to understand how brass shavings were evident on a set of rockers that the trunions were installed by Straub and never run on any engine. If I have the story wrong I'd like Chris to clear up what happened. I think it was suggested that perhaps the sharp edges of the snap ring grooves could have caused them when installing the bushings?

 

It's what we do on the Internet; ignore what isn't fun to read. We're all guilty of it. Likely need to put some pics of lady parts at the top of any post that has a worthwhile point to it.

Probably the same reason that most haven't seen that I posted that all sets I've assembled ended up with some bronze shavings around the edges of the bushings that I blow out with air before completing the assembly. I think this is normal consequence of pressing a soft metal(bronze bushing) into a hard metal(steel rocker) and not a flaw but an assembly consideration.

Now if they are greased with something thick, the shavings might be hard to get out.