So its that time...

I know I need 1.6 ratio
Stamped or roller?
Stainless or aluminum?
What size are the factory studs?

Also, are they LT1 specific or can I use regular SBC rockers?

TIA

 

How much do you want to spend?
I don't much care for aluminum. I run the old and new version of the Pro Mags.
Run the 7/16 stud and I run NSA with guide plates.

Edit: stay away from cheap aluminum.

 

I know fex77k knows this but the OP doesn't.
7/16" is an upgraded stud not stock.

OP why don't you tell us something about what you are trying to accomplish?

 

My mistake

Just completing the list of basic bolt ons for a daily driver. The car will never see a track, nor anything north of 6k rpm. I currently have full exhaust, CAI, tune, and tons of suspension upgrades. Besides maybe gears, I really have no other performance plans in mind.

110k original miles, 2-owner babied '93

Budget? Inexpensive but not cheap. Im seeing a lot of SBC roller rockers on ebay in the $110 range...

Thanks

 

Also if you are on stock valve springs you will need to upgrade them.

 

Usually people upgrade their valvetrain to support an aftermarket cam. There wont be much of a gain if you keep the stock cam. If you want you can check out the hot cam for the lt1. Pretty cheap for the whole kit, and lots of people who have used it loved it.

Heres some popular rockers for our engines depending on your build and goals.

 

I found some Vortec 1.6 SA's stamped with roller tips... would those work?

 

If you want to get the benefit of spending the money and time to change rockers, I would not get roller-tipped. The roller fulcrum of full roller rockers is where the bigger benefit is. Better bang for the buck.

 

as said the roller is more important at the fulcrum.
The guy who said little gains with stock cam is partially wrong you go with 1.6 roller rockers and some LT4 springs and you do get a nice performance gain.

The LT4 kit is NOT a good buy, the springs that came with it worked OK with the LT4 hollow/sodium filled valves but a a bit lacking with the heavier LT1 valves and the rockers wont really grow with you very well as they are lift limited to below what most of us run once we do heads and cam and you likely eventually will want to go farther and do more to the car.

If you think $110 rockers are worth looking at skip this project.

I would do gears first anyway.

 

I tried some Elgin 1.6 stamped SA rockers, after about 1500 mi I pulled them to install some valve springs better than the LT4 springs I had. Upon inspection all 16 rocker arms have a very narrow contact area between the rocker ball and the arm. I didn't like this and reinstalled my stock rocker arms. I wouldn't recommend these Elgin rockers, judging by the wear pattern they don't appear to be formed correctly for full contact of the ball to the rocker.
Like everyone else said if you want 1.6s go full roller. I haven't read anything good about roller tip stamped rockers. Also the LT4 springs are not good enough for the hotcam and the supplied rockers have limited travel, so stay away from the hotcam kit, in the end the kit will not save you any money.

 

You must use 87+ rockers. You cant use the older small block ones because they will not clear the center bolt valve covers. Some of the newer full rollers still require cutting a section of the 'brace' part inside the valve cover for clearance but it isnt a big deal. I got a set of slightly used comp pro magnum full rollers for $150 and couldnt be happier with them. I would deffinatly reccomend better springs and hardened pushrods, even with a stock cam.

 

You can use "older" style rockers just need guideplates and valvecover trimming to make them work. I would say most of us who do heads/cam do this.

 

Thanks for the advice Gents. I guess I'll save for full rollers and better springs.

Also discovered this morning I have a bent axle... not sure how that happened since the car is only driven 2x a week. Either way, I may end up with gears sooner than I had planned

 

gears you will feel all the time, rockers and springs you will feel mostly say above 5000rpm since most of the gains from it come from extending the rpm range a bit as stock springs tend to allow float sooner than the stock cam really runs out of breath.

If an automatic a good stall can be a great thing even on the street. By good I mean at least a 2800stall 9.5" Edge converter as the lowend of the stall and budget spectrum.