440, 12 years since it last ran

[Curiousyellow71]

If you are use to specs for a hydraulic to compare it to a solid @.050 you need to add roughly 8-12 degrees to the solid....depending on how much lash the cam runs. So a 240 solid will compare roughly to duration to 230 for a hydraulic to perform similar. There is more too it obviously but it's a decent way to compare cams.

For the rocker ratio...the total lift is the cam lift times the rocker ratio. So if you cam has is .35 lift your opening your valves .525 with 1.5s vs .56 with 1.6s. You also gain a couple degree with the higher ratio rockers because your opening the valve quicker...but only 2 or 3 degrees at .050. If you look at hughes they list the lift for 1.5s and 1.6s on the their cam chart. Lift is for the most part free hp...but their is more strain on the valve train and when you go to a different rocker ratio the fulcrum moves on the valves causing geometry issues...the roller tip no longer hits in the correct location and you have to buy a shim kit to correct. Factory mopar ran 1.5s so they shouldn't need much of any shimming...where 1.6s definitely will.

Hope that helps.. on some threads wyrmrider mentions a rocker shim kit right up from B3racing I beleive. I dont have the link...but it's a good read.

 

[nothingelsematters]

First, thanks for the info on rocker ratios, it makes a lot more sense to me now! The Hughes rocker setup comes with the shims if they are needed. I was told that it is on a head to head basis if they are needed or not. Since they come with the shims and Hughes are pretty confident in the valve clearance I'm leaning towards the 1.6's.

Hopefully, my desire to squeeze a little extra out of the iron heads doesn't bite me in the ***. But this will also give me the opportunity to learn how to check piston/valve clearance checks and oh so many other things.

 

[Paul Secoy]

I am sure it will run very well. I think myself I'd go with the E street heads and a 550ish solid, as I think you will gain more from the head flow, and lose 50 pounds off the nose of the car. I can certainly see using the stuff you have now, and Hughes has a good rep.

 

[nothingelsematters]

I am sure it will run very well. I think myself I'd go with the E street heads and a 550ish solid, as I think you will gain more from the head flow, and lose 50 pounds off the nose of the car. I can certainly see using the stuff you have now, and Hughes has a good rep.

It is a hard choice to make for sure. But I'm thinking that I'd like to build a new motor in a few years with a bottom end that better compliments a shiny new set of aluminum heads.

I also started adding up the cost of a new carb, disk breaks, leaf springs, shocks, slicks, fuel cell, fuel pump, and the rest of the stuff I need to replace and it is going to get pricey. Think I'm at a happy medium now that I can live with and still do the rest of the car right!