thebeaver

iTrader: (-1)

Hello ls1tech community. I just bought my first ls1 car back in September of this year. It is a 98 trans am with the ws6 package Body has about 125k miles. The engine has been swapped for 2002 camaro engine (50K miles), so it is still a stock 5.7 liter ls1. The guy I bought it from put a v3 torquer (from texas speed) cam and prc stage 2.5 heads. He also bought 7.400 pushrods, PRC .650' dual spring kit, and some other very minor things but that is the jist of the modifications.
Last Friday I did an oil change and I found 15 needle bearings on the drain bolt. I looked it up on the internet and found the problem and sure enough, we pulled off the cylinder head real quick and could see the very same problem we had seen pictures of on the internet. One of the bearing housings went and spilled needle bearings all over. So now I am faced with replacing it.
I was wondering if I am going to run into clearance issues if I have a substantial lift as I am trying to avoid having the cylinder heads milled or anything of that nature. I am down to Harland Sharp or Comp Cams for rocker arms and I am not sure if I need adjustable ones or if one will work and the other not. I think the stock ratio is 1.7. If anyone has any experience with this type of situation, what would you recommend brand wise? Any insight would be most appreciated. Let me know if you need any more specs.

KILLER-LS1

iTrader: (18)

I would use comp's rocker trunion upgrage kit. It reuses the stock arm, but you press in new sealed bearings. That is what I use in my 1000+ rwhp LS1. Dont even bother with an aftermarket arm, they arent needed.

thebeaver

iTrader: (-1)

Thanks for the quick reply! I saw the trunion kit upgrades and they are much cheaper than the rocker arms. I didn't know if the stock ones are suitable or if they could use replacing, but if you are running them at 1000 hp then I reckon I can run mine @ a measley 440 hp.

May I ask what type of cam you are using (what is the lift?)
Edit: I just looked and saw "comp cams custom" so it is probably a secret but let me rephrase my question. Will a big lift cam not produce enough stress to make it worthwhile for rocker arms?

KILLER-LS1

iTrader: (18)

the lift on my cam is .617" unless youre doing a race only solid roller cam, you will be fine with the stock rocker

TransamGCS

iTrader: (2)

Op no matter what rockers you use even the trunion upgrades you have to measure for pushrod length and check to make sure the rocker arm is seated correctly on the valve stem. up grading to the trunion may require diffrent pushrods, the kit is thicker than stock and will change the geometry slightly.

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

How'd you come to this conclusion?

TransamGCS

iTrader: (2)

any time you change cam or rocker arms i think its just good insurance to check and re check for proper pushrod length the trunion on the comp cam is thicker than stock, which causes the rocker to set a little higher which could change the length needed this is what i found when i did the trunion up grade on my setup

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

I asked because I've never heard of this before. Doesn't make sense. The new trunions have to be the same diameter as the stock ones in order to slide into the rocker. The only thing I could think that would be different is having to use the supplied bolts and that part of the trunion the under head of the bolts rest on is slightly thicker, which I don't think it is but who knows.

TransamGCS

iTrader: (2)

its kind of hard to explain; with the kit you change the cage bearings as well, the inner diameter of the cage bearings is bigger to compensate for the bigger trunion the outer diameter of the cage bearing is the same size as stock so that it fits in the stock rocker, dont know if that made any since but if you compared a stock trunion to the comp trunion youd see that the comp is thicker, this is why somtimes when people install the upgrade they have to use shims to compensate for the geometry change