Joined: Sat Aug 19 2006, 05:03PM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2919
Another knockoff of the Comp 1621-16 cast s/s rocker arms. These look to have better attachment hardware than the CAT performance ones. If you search online for a higher resolution version of the picture though, you can see that the casting finish is rough and varies a lot between parts. That is not reassuring.
Find out if these have bronze bushings in the rockers or whether the s/s rocker body rides directly on the shaft. I used the CAT Performance ones which self-destructed on the dyno and damaged my brand new engine. The metallurgy of the rocker bodies was not good. They galled and seized on the shafts and hung a couple of valves open.
I contacted CAT to complain. They must've known about this problem because they already had a plan in the works to add bronze bushings to the rocker bodies. They offered me another set with the bronze bushings but, once bitten twice shy, I wound up going with the genuine Comp ones after that. (I just looked on their website catpep.com and it looks like they don't sell ANY rocker arms anymore.)
The Comp rockers also ride directly on the shafts without bushings, but don't have this galling problem. I do have a magazine article where they modified Comp rockers with bronze bushings because they were using a roller cam with very high spring pressures though. I'm using Edelbrock heads with the springs that come installed on them from Edelbrock, not something exotic like that.
Mancini sells the genuine Comp 1621-16 set for $710. They also have a knockoff set from PRW for $495. I wouldn't be surprised if they come from the same factory in China as the Speedmaster ones, but you can see from the picture that they have bronze bushing inserts. Nothing I've ever bought from Mancini has been junk, so I would trust those. They are twice the price of the Speedmaster ones of course. (Note that the text description for the PRW rocker arms is incorrect and is actually for their aluminum rockers.)
Joined: Wed Aug 11 2010, 10:15AM
Location: E WA
Posts: 1230
Mike66Chryslers wrote ...
Another knockoff of the Comp 1621-16 cast s/s rocker arms. These look to have better attachment hardware than the CAT performance ones. If you search online for a higher resolution version of the picture though, you can see that the casting finish is rough and varies a lot between parts. That is not reassuring.
Find out if these have bronze bushings in the rockers or whether the s/s rocker body rides directly on the shaft. I used the CAT Performance ones which self-destructed on the dyno and damaged my brand new engine. The metallurgy of the rocker bodies was not good. They galled and seized on the shafts and hung a couple of valves open.
I contacted CAT to complain. They must've known about this problem because they already had a plan in the works to add bronze bushings to the rocker bodies. They offered me another set with the bronze bushings but, once bitten twice shy, I wound up going with the genuine Comp ones after that. (I just looked on their website catpep.com and it looks like they don't sell ANY rocker arms anymore.)
The Comp rockers also ride directly on the shafts without bushings, but don't have this galling problem. I do have a magazine article where they modified Comp rockers with bronze bushings because they were using a roller cam with very high spring pressures though. I'm using Edelbrock heads with the springs that come installed on them from Edelbrock, not something exotic like that.
Mancini sells the genuine Comp 1621-16 set for $710. They also have a knockoff set from PRW for $495. I wouldn't be surprised if they come from the same factory in China as the Speedmaster ones, but you can see from the picture that they have bronze bushing inserts. Nothing I've ever bought from Mancini has been junk, so I would trust those. They are twice the price of the Speedmaster ones of course. (Note that the text description for the PRW rocker arms is incorrect and is actually for their aluminum rockers.)
They will be going on some 440 source heads into my 1967 Polara 500 convertible at some point. I am not sure of the engine yet. It has the original 383 in it and I also have a 440 block. Might go as small as a 383 and all the way up to a 512.
Have been watching those myself, and would love to hear about your impressions when you get them set up. Very similar setup for me when I'm done as well.