• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

Will rocker arms require a retune?

T

The Big Al

New member
Got me 3.4 pulley and headers in today. My question is if I decide to add rocker arms in the near future will i need a retune?
 


You can just add the rockers without extra tuning if you want, but to get the maximum benefit out of them you should increase your shift points to get the most out of them.
 
put some 90 lb or 105 lb springs on if you do rockers and rev that thing all the way to 6000 rpm's. you will notice a big difference if you are still on a stock tune.
 
My car already holds 1st gear to right around 5900 RPM anyways so how beneficial would that be to me? 2nd shift however only goes to 5500 before shifting to 3rd. But I can always hold it in 2nd for just a little bit longer. Thats what I did at the dragstrip so it would hold 2nd gear through the traps.
 
The Big Al said:
My car already holds 1st gear to right around 5900 RPM anyways so how beneficial would that be to me? 2nd shift however only goes to 5500 before shifting to 3rd. But I can always hold it in 2nd for just a little bit longer. Thats what I did at the dragstrip so it would hold 2nd gear through the traps.
Click to expand...
just because its up there doesnt mean its making any decent power. rockers will allow more air in so you will be making better power the higher the RPM's.
 
Think I'll hold off on valve springs until I get some better flowing heads. Don't really wanna pull the heads just to put valve springs in.
 


Taking the valve springs off when the heads are still on is a little harder. You don't want the valves to fall down into the engine, and so you need a tool which will put compression into the engine and hold the valves up. If the heads are already off changing the springs is easy, but taking the heads off to change the springs doesn't make sense
 
its called a air compressor lol you put air into the cylinder to keep the valves up while you unlock the springs and swap them out. dont forget to change the valve seals while doing the springs.

you also need a spring compressor too.
 


One way to do it is to take a spark plug out and blow air in through there. I've never actually done it, that's just how I've heard people do it
 
how i got it done ^^^^^


black hose on the right is the compressor hose, that shinny star wheel a top the blower there is the spring compressor tool.

it was hot as hell and i need to make shade to work under lol
KIMG0143_zpsg11ljhyu.jpg


KIMG0140_zpsmt6ntepc.jpg
 


Rockers + 105lb springs are a easy job and make NICE seat of the pants gains along with raised shift points
 
I did it as well with heads on the car, piece of cake w/compressor and spark plug adapter. Adapter is available at Harbor Frieght for cheap along with spring compressor. Doing lim job at same time takes things out of the way of course. Ported SC & TB along with the YT 1.9's, headers & 3" exhaust all the way makes a huge difference over stock (with tune). Instant throttle response and lots of head room on the highway. Have yet to feel it give up on me and I've had the speedometer pinned! Worth the investment if you don't want to totally tear into engine. But for a few $ more and some more elbow grease you can do a cam build and get even more... It all just depends what you want and how deep your pockets are : )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top