first observation: The studs should not come out with the nuts (valve cover)

second observation: The AC line over the pass VC is going to make this a PITA.

Doing pass side first since it's less obstructed.

third observation: crack both loose before removing..the rockers and guideplates are a single massive assembly and will turn on you

fourth obsevation: John Mercedes says to torque new ones to 25 ft-lb. I dont have a tq wrench that low, and the stockers damn near need a cheater bar to break loose. ???

 

Correction to first observation: What a funky ***** way to do those...nuts are welded to the studs, then more nuts go on top (which like to be seized)

The heater hose doesn't help observation 2 much.

fourth- found our long-unused inch-pound wrench. I'm only going to go to 280 inches or so (25 ft is 300 inch) because there's no telling how uncalibrated any of our 30 yr old wrenches are....

Fifth- Holding the pedestals and getting the pushrods in the cups is a PITA. Having studs would make things easier.

Also, a dental mirror is very handy to make sure the pushrods land in the cups.

 

How much HP are the 1.7 rocker arms supposedly worth? Are any other modifications (new springs,etc.) necessary? I'm thinking this might be a relatively inexpensive way to gain a few HP on my otherwise stock 5.2 engine.

 

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech-article-32.html

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...o-chart-3.html

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...and-sharp.html

Supposedly about 10-15 HP on the dyno for a V8, figure for my V6 it's 8-10.

Passenger side on mine was easier so I did it first. Still was a pain to wrestle the valve cover between the AC and heater hoses, the 3 spark plug wires, 2 ground straps (one of which goes to the VC), the coil wire, and the cruise control's cable and vacuum conenctions. I've spent about 5 minutes looking at that drivers side and have no idea how I'm going to get the VC out without unhooking stuff and what not.

john [at] southeastrt [dot] net

No supporting mods necessary, but I've done the SCT tune from hemifever and a 180 thermostat (which is required for any SCT tune because of the significant timing advance in the ECU). I'm also ditching the clutch fan this week, which frees power as well. With the whole package, for my 6'er, I'm probably in the 20-25 pickup range...V8 maybe in the 30's? Really depends on how aggressive you have hemifever (Sean) get with the tuning. Give him some wideband O2 sensor readings and he can go ballistic with the tunes.

 

Sweet! Around $10/HP (for just the rockers) sounds like a pretty good deal. And I assume since the cam timing is unchanged (just more lift) that the powerband stays in pretty much the same range as stock?

Not sure how much I would benefit from the tuner, since I don't want to run higher octane gas (at 12MPG, even 87 octane gets expensive), but it's still worth considering. I'll be interested to hear what your "butt dyno" says after the rockers are installed.

 

Next to the SCT, the 1.7 rockers are probably the next biggest power gaining mod.

here's a link to a dyno I did YEARS ago on my '01 5.9 Ram that shows the 1.7 rockers gain

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

 

Oh hey Sean, thanks for Chiming in. Can't wait to get the other side done.

So on the 5.9, say roughly 15 HP and 10 ft-lb over stock?

Tom, you'd be surprised. My MPG actually picked up, but yes I had to switch from 87 to 89 (91 would be better). FWIW the price per mile stays pretty close- the gas is 15 cents more per gal in texas (3.32 vs 3.47 where i'm at right now) but the mileage picks up as well. I'm anticipating a little mpg pickup from the rockers too since they do reduce friction. Switching from mechanical to elec fan should help both power and mileage as well.

right now with just Sean's tunes I'm at 13.2 on paper/14.5 corrected for 10% oversize tire. Keep in mind that's with 4.10 gears and a 13 mile daily commute to wok/school and back. I've found out the better metering is with time- usually 32-34 minutes per gallon.

 

I know its to late for you but for a few others I did a great post on the install of them. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ml#post2065727

 

finished them this morning. The driver side is a P-I-T-A!!! Both sides made a little racket on start up, even with oil on the end of the pushrods and having been spun over with the injectors unhooked till oil spilled over, i guess from the dry contact with the valve stems. Cleared up within 1 second of running. Definitely changed the exhaust note a bit, sounds more like a V8. Almost dropped both pedestals for the driver side rear cylinder (5??) because I couldn't see around the brake booster.

 

least its done. Let us know how ur butt dyno is changed