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Is the set steve morris engines sells the Straubs? Or has everyone pretty much just started making their own?
I believe the mfg or the primary mfg representative is Smith Bros. Straub was the first major distributor that I knew of to offer the product and I handled many Straub-branded sets. No discredit to SME but I don't know when they started offering these. They just weren't on my radar when I was looking for quantity of these very early 2016.
Gotcha. They all look similar so wasnt sure. Looking to purchase a set here in a few days.
Originally Posted by Mercier
I believe the mfg or the primary mfg representative is Smith Bros. Straub was the first major distributor that I knew of to offer the product and I handled many Straub-branded sets. No discredit to SME but I don't know when they started offering these. They just weren't on my radar when I was looking for quantity of these very early 2016.
So I am curious now. Anybody have 20-30,000 miles on these kits yet? If so, have you looked at how they are wearing or noticed any play in rockers or anything?
I have 12,000k miles on my Smith Bros Bronze Trunnions. They have virtually no wear, tho I did not use any gauges to determine this. But visually inspecting them, they look about as good as new. The bushing have not turned from their original position (I marked them to see if they would) and the polished trunnions look like new still, no signs of significant wear. I would not doubt they will last 50K+ miles. I have had them for about a year now and use the newer style.
If it matters tho, I have my shift points at 6k RPM and fuel cutoff at 6200 RPM. I am very satisfied with these over my previous COMP trunnions. The Comps started showing excessive play around 20k miles and once I removed them they had odd wear marks on the trunnions themselves.
I have a picture from when I first started to install them, unfortunately no pictures from inspection or from the Comps. The picture of them installed on the head is very recent. I did a cam swap and removed the actual trunnions from the rocker arms to give everything a good cleaning and soak in fresh oil. Like I said, very satisfied with them.
Last edited by 07NBSChevy; 01-26-2017 at 03:30 AM.
So I am curious now. Anybody have 20-30,000 miles on these kits yet? If so, have you looked at how they are wearing or noticed any play in rockers or anything?
I will get an update from the driving school. We shipped several thousand sets in 2016 and have already taken orders for 500 sets this month. I should have results from a endurance test of 200 hours of continuous running in a engine built for an experimental aircraft project.
I will get an update from the driving school. We shipped several thousand sets in 2016 and have already taken orders for 500 sets this month. I should have results from a endurance test of 200 hours of continuous running in a engine built for an experimental aircraft project.
Not really what I was looking for. Just curious if anybody had any results on how they looked after a year or 2 of daily driving. No schools or aircraft needed.
It actually might be what you are looking for. Many cars putting on many miles would be the best sample you would want. Any hiccups in the design would show, but if it's a good design the lack of any hiccups in the sample size would demonstrate that too.
High usage/hours will be a great indication of how these hold up. Any info is always helpful.
I drive a lot of short trips where the engine oil never reaches operating temp and with in that short distance I am punching it to have fun but more so a lot of steep hills on my commute. So my rockers will have it the worst as well as the motor internals etc. I do let the engine warm till at least 140*F before I drive it tho so it idles till I'm ready to leave. While I won't be able to get results for a while any info that Chris can provide is always helpful. I don't see these bushing being an issue which is why I bought them and didn't waste my time with encased bearings. And if they need to be replaced in 5years with only 3k miles on it then so be it. I'm not going to be upset at $150 replaced in 5years if I didn't have to worry about the crap cycling bearings through out my motor at any time. However I doubt these will ever need to be replaced and I would likely just upgrade them again to another of the newer straub kits down the road in an extra set of rockers I have. If you only knew how much money I spend on this car yearly in just changing stuff bc I want to lol.
Is the set steve morris engines sells the Straubs? Or has everyone pretty much just started making their own?
I'm curious about this too.
I ordered mine from Steve Morris Racing Engines and they look exactly like the ones pictured with the single flat oil channel at the 12 o'clock position.
Most likely all from the same manufacturer. Altho mine just came in plastic bags, not the nicely packaged box.
Ok, so the Steve Morris Racing Engines, trunnions are a little different than all the ones pictured in this thread. They have an oiling groove (just like the outer snap ring groove) machined in the bearing surface for the entire circumference of the trunnion, just located in-board halfway between the snap ring groove and center section of the trunnion.
Interesting. I'll get some pics, forgot to take some when I was in the garage.
Today, I upgraded the trunnions on my 2014 chevy ss. I bought it last month used with 12,300 miles, certified pre-owned from a local dealer. I did the upgrade because it's not a bad idea and I had a kit spare. No suspicion or reason for the upgrade, I just wanted to throw them in to make sure the Straub kit went to good use.
I found one stock rocker with the outer cage damaged and needle bearings exposed, and one with all the needles gone. So, this should be interesting... do I call the dealership and get them on it, considering all that metal is in the pan? Or am I fubar since I cracked into the mix?
For those thinking that it's not necessary on a stock motor, take a look at these pics, 3 years old and 12,300 miles...
I am curious why the flat oil "channels" are machined where they are. It's probably easiest to machine that way, but when assembled on an engine, the flat parts are not horizontal. Wouldn't it be better if the flat parts were horizontal so oil has a better chance of getting in? The older design with two channels seems better because one is always at or closer to horizontal.
I am curious why the flat oil "channels" are machined where they are. It's probably easiest to machine that way, but when assembled on an engine, the flat parts are not horizontal. Wouldn't it be better if the flat parts were horizontal so oil has a better chance of getting in? The older design with two channels seems better because one is always at or closer to horizontal.
I did /like/ the first design better personally just from looking at it but after putting my hands on a lot of these(all designs), I've concluded that it doesn't matter. I think you are putting more stock than deserved in that flat being horizontal(level?). Oil gets there by squirting through the pushrod tip and running down the rocker body. With how much and how often things are moving around in there, I think it would be hard to *not* get oil in there. Even if it is angled a bit, gravity is going to take it where it needs to go. And it should work its way around.
It occurs to me that the volume of the single flat is likely about the same as the two smaller channels of the previous design.
Today, I upgraded the trunnions on my 2014 chevy ss. I bought it last month used with 12,300 miles, certified pre-owned from a local dealer. I did the upgrade because it's not a bad idea and I had a kit spare. No suspicion or reason for the upgrade, I just wanted to throw them in to make sure the Straub kit went to good use.
I found one stock rocker with the outer cage damaged and needle bearings exposed, and one with all the needles gone. So, this should be interesting... do I call the dealership and get them on it, considering all that metal is in the pan? Or am I fubar since I cracked into the mix?
For those thinking that it's not necessary on a stock motor, take a look at these pics, 3 years old and 12,300 miles...
That is surprising. Are you sure a previous owner didn't do anything silly? I know unlikely with low miles but who knows?
I would have told the dealer you heard a ticking, thought about upgrading your rockers, and show them that. If you already took them apart though..A little tough. Under warranty, I would have upgraded a different set of rockers and kept the stockers on the shelf until warranty was out. So have you taken them apart? Much better to have the dealer digging in your pan than you.
EDIT: just noticed you said upgradeD. I would still go back to the dealer and see what they will do for you. Possibly try multiple dealers until you find someone that understands the issue. If a tire blows and damages your wheel but you replace/upgrade the tires with something aftermarket to get back to the dealer, they should still replace the wheel.
That is surprising. Are you sure a previous owner didn't do anything silly? I know unlikely with low miles but who knows?
I would have told the dealer you heard a ticking, thought about upgrading your rockers, and show them that. If you already took them apart though..A little tough. Under warranty, I would have upgraded a different set of rockers and kept the stockers on the shelf until warranty was out. So have you taken them apart? Much better to have the dealer digging in your pan than you.
EDIT: just noticed you said upgradeD. I would still go back to the dealer and see what they will do for you. Possibly try multiple dealers until you find someone that understands the issue. If a tire blows and damages your wheel but you replace/upgrade the tires with something aftermarket to get back to the dealer, they should still replace the wheel.
Yeah, the way it went down was I did the passenger side first, no issues. Got to the driver side and found that trash. Definitely a tough spot. Since the motor is fine, I want them to pull the pan, clean it out, replace the pickup tube and maybe the oil pump, then check the valves for straightness. We shall see what happens, service dept opens monday.
Ok, so the Steve Morris Racing Engines, trunnions are a little different than all the ones pictured in this thread. They have an oiling groove (just like the outer snap ring groove) machined in the bearing surface for the entire circumference of the trunnion, just located in-board halfway between the snap ring groove and center section of the trunnion.
Interesting. I'll get some pics, forgot to take some when I was in the garage.
Here's a pic of the set I received from Steve Morris Racing back in January of '17....
(super easy to install with two 16mm sockets and a bench vise) Im guessing this is the newest design of trunnion upgrade available.
That's the latest design previously posted in this thread. The additional oil groove results in a reduction of bearing area. It's hard to say if that will cause an increase in wear as it's a relatively new design and I doubt anyone has put any miles on them yet. I'm looking forward to some teardown pics of this design, although I'll probably need to buy my set before anyone posts them. I do like how the groove serves as an oil reservoir since my car sits for long periods between starts. Whether it actually holds any oil for an extended period of time or not is the question, though.
01-24-2017, 04:26 PM
