What are the benefits/applications for (m)

[Guest Anonymous]

billet aluminum rocker arms? Is that stuff generally just for race

motors or can it be applied to performance street motors that see

daily usage? Being billet aluminum I would imagine that they are

stronger and lighter than the stock pieces...thanks for any input

[Guest Anonymous]

A street motor will rev at around 4K RPM while a race engine will never rev below that value and will see an average of 6.5/7K with the occasional 8K burst. Race engines will also have camshafts with aggressive lobes and longer lifts which require stronger valve springs to avoid valve float. Stronger valve springs means extra stress on rocker arms. That extra stress requires stronger parts, hence the billet arm. A stock motor with occasional performance drive will see no benefit. The way to go around using stifer springs is to use a lighter valve train. Titamium valves, keepers etc. But although it makes the motor more reliable, it is very expensive.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

...except a hunk of metal. Billet alone doesn't tell you the alloy or heat treat and whether or not the heat treat was before or after machining, etc. Improper machining could result in sharp corners creating stress risers. Billet doesn't magically keep this from happening. The cast and peened stock rockers as far as I've experienced and heard are fine even for ITB level racing.

The machined rockers you are referring to for all I know could be far better then stock rockers, but I don't know. Just be aware of all the "billet" hype out there. 99.9% of it is just marketing BS. Case in point: even the stock rockers are made from billet. The difference is they are melted down again and cast into shape instead of machined.

Good luck, but beware.

[Guest Anonymous]

and the stock rockers, properly relieved, are holding up OK after 3 or 4 years.

I don't run particularly aggressive cams, nor brutal springs, but I also only spin to 7200.

So if you're running a Schrick 330 cam at 8500, yeah, gotta get something stronger, whatever that may be.

Otherwise, there are a lot better ways to spend your 2002 bucks.

The other way to look at it- ever broken a rocker? Replace 'em every 6 months due to wear No? Then you're fine. They're not noticably lighter, and the cast rocker actually has better lash pad retention potential.

my '02 only, of course.

Toby

[Guest Anonymous]

used to sell parts "ooohhh, Billet!"