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LS1 Dart head Issues All read

Old 03-18-2006, 05:15 PM
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Default LS1 Dart head Issues All read

Most of you know that the stock rocker guides have to be modified to work on the dart heads.
Well we did that and 1500 miles later the whole valve train is askew. The car was down 35+hp so we were looking for issues valve train was noisy so we started there. We found the rockers were misaligned because the stock rocker guide has moved, This could have been bad. When we installed the heads and they were tightened to the correct specs and using the correct procedure. I called dart on thursday with and and pictures they said they were going to call me back but not return call as of yet.
This sux my car is down.
link for site with pictures
http://web.mac.com/crash1/iWeb/Site/heads.html


below is a picture whe you can see the rocker has impacted the retainer

Last edited by NOT-MEE; 03-18-2006 at 06:51 PM.
Old 03-18-2006, 05:33 PM
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Little matel tabs keep it in line I would think. Please keep us informed. Just got heads yesterday was planning on doing same thing you did.
Old 03-18-2006, 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by alsfastz28
Little matel tabs keep it in line I would think. Please keep us informed. Just got heads yesterday was planning on doing same thing you did.
You have to trim the tabs to make stock rocker system work on dart heads.

Last edited by NOT-MEE; 03-18-2006 at 06:50 PM.
Old 03-18-2006, 05:46 PM
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But I guess we see what happens if you do that what are you going to do know ?
Old 03-18-2006, 05:50 PM
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Originally Posted by alsfastz28
But I guess we see what happens if you do that what are you going to do now ?
The stock rocker guide will not fit on heads without modification.
I'm waiting on dart to tell me what to do.
What happens is heads work great then valve train gets noisy. Youy pull covers and you find the whole valvetrain is off.

Last edited by NOT-MEE; 03-22-2006 at 03:14 PM.
Old 03-18-2006, 05:56 PM
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Originally Posted by NOT-MEE
The stock rocker guide will not fit on heads without modification.
I'm waiting on dart to tell me what they are going to do.
What happens id heads work great then valve train gets noisy. Youy pull covers and you find the whole valvetrain is off.

damn dude I am sorry to hear this. All I want to know is where in the hell is that smart *** dude from dart when you need him, he is always shitting up other threads about his heads but I bet he stays away from this one.
Old 03-18-2006, 06:23 PM
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Looking at buying some right now, I will have to watch this closely.
Old 03-18-2006, 06:50 PM
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The only solution I can come up with is shaft mounted rockers like the ones from comp cams.
They Retail $1142.00
Old 03-18-2006, 07:05 PM
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why not harland sharp ?
Old 03-18-2006, 07:10 PM
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I dont understand how the entire row of rockers could move with all the bolts in and tight. I dont believe those little aluminum tabs hold much of anything. Certainly dont hold more than 8 steel bolts. Seems the bolts would have to be bent of the bolt holes wollowed out for this to happen.
Old 03-18-2006, 07:17 PM
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Not going to win points, but A-F-R...
Old 03-18-2006, 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted by 383LQ4SS
I dont understand how the entire row of rockers could move with all the bolts in and tight. I dont believe those little aluminum tabs hold much of anything. Certainly dont hold more than 8 steel bolts. Seems the bolts would have to be bent of the bolt holes wollowed out for this to happen.
The tab's do keep the guide in a position. When you bolt the rockers on it tightens and holds in place. The guide moved because of the tightness of the valve train vibration and stress on the rockers studs without tabs. The guide has holes the bolts go through, the tolerance on the bolt-bolt hole when you multiply that it has moved quite a bit .
Old 03-18-2006, 07:41 PM
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Originally Posted by alsfastz28
why not harland sharp ?
I'm looking at those also
Old 03-18-2006, 09:02 PM
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there was 1 bad thread on these rockers about 1 month ago still cant wait to see what dart says this .
Old 03-18-2006, 09:11 PM
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The tabs are for factory alignment of the rockers during assembly line install, if the tabs on the guides are not completely ground away it could have worked loose, but the rocker system does not need the tabs to run properly.


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Old 03-18-2006, 09:18 PM
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They were adjusted correctly and done using the correct procedure.
I drive my car daily.
We are going to do the alignment procedure again see what happens.
Right now they are torqued to spec. We are going to remove the valve-train and realign and re-torque. You know when something is off because they get real noisy.
Old 03-18-2006, 09:25 PM
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NOT-MEE,
What did your car dyno before this happened? Are you using 205's or 225's?
Old 03-18-2006, 09:29 PM
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Kurt is correct, those tabs are just there to keep them from slippping off during assembly, they do not align anything, tightening the bolts aligns them. Matter of fact on a stock the rails move around a lot on a stock head with the tabs.

Either one of the tabs are not ground off or they just came loose. 6800rpm a lot of times here and my rockers are just fine..
Old 03-18-2006, 09:32 PM
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404 rwhp 376tq corrected
here are the flow numbers and the dyno sheet
I have a small cam 220/226/564/114
Attached Thumbnails LS1 Dart head Issues All read-dyno.jpg  
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flow.pdf (81.9 KB, 204 views)
Old 03-18-2006, 09:36 PM
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205's or 225's?

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