Racer Feedback wanted: Why/Why Not the T&D Shaft Rockers for hemi?

Why has NHRA made them illegal in the first place?

 

rocker question

I bought a set of Ray Franks 5"bore spacing 12 degree heads for a 715 big block chevy to be run on gas with carbs.you have to run Jesel or T & D rockers on this setup.these are cast heads.but after you spend 1500.00 dollars on either one of these companys individual rocker assemblies,you have to weld all the stands together with chrome molly plate to make them strong enough as to not pull the stands out of the heads! reher morrison charges about 900.00 dollars to do this! when you call to order them they tell you to do this,but they do not do it for you.I asked both companies if the made a plate system for this head to give it more support,both said no!so if you relate this to a billet head hemi with a blower on it with all that pressure and RPM,well I don't know why you would want individual rockers on a hemi!!! just my opinion!!

 

Flash,
I drive the alcohol car that Will was refering to. The T&D rockers are not an individual stand type rocker like is used on a BBC. The whole assembly bolts on in one piece just as any of the available systems out there now with no modifications. The rockers have individual shafts incoporated into the bolt on assembly. We ran them for all of 2006 up until Maple Grove where we we told to remove them and we did. While we did run them we had not one valve train related failure. or burned pushrod. Oiling modifications to the rockers are also not required with the T&D rockers. Now we werent the fastest car out there last year but we ran the motor to 10000 rpm on many occasions. T&D is trying to have the rockers approved for alcohol cars and seeing as though we have first hand experience with them i dont mind passing on my impression of them and they are excellent. If any one wants to know more or has any questions feel free to contact me.
Marc White
630 638 0477

 

Well I sure do feel stupid now!!! I had no idea you weren't allowed T&D rockers in the alky classes

 

I heard about the controversy afterwards at ATCO. I couldn't believe NHRA wanted them removed. They are a bolt on correct? Why are teams like FORCE allowed to manufacture their own blowers to get an edge on performance but a component that simply improves the reliability of the valetrain without changing the valve angle is banned? Don't they realize that broken valvetrain can cause an oil down? As far as costs isn't it cheaper to have a system that performs reliably over the course of a season than to have to change single rockers or individual stands sometimes every other race? What does it say to competitors when a sanctioning body would rather have its racers drive over their own parts rather than improve the reliability of those same parts?
Certainly not "Dedicated to Safety'

 

Kind of what we thought. Anyone that wants to voice an opinion to NHRA can E mail Len Imbrogno about it. He has been open minded about them so far. limbrogno@nhra.com
Thanks
Marc

 

We've got two sets of T&D's for our Nostalgia Top Fueler, and I can tell you, they are top shelf parts. Now, we aren't running a 426 style motor, just a lowly Rodeck forged billet 392 Early Model, and they are neat. The rockers are mounted on individual shafts and bolt to an aluminum framework that is held down by the head studs. The only kick I've got against them is you have to pay very close attention when tightening them down to keep the pushrods on the intake side seated in the adjusters. Other than that, they're great. I have to ask, why does NHRA not allow them? Perhaps they haven't paid the scantioning body to get on the "Approved" list???
Henry

 

t&d rockers

we have also ran the t&d rockers on our wedge & with jerry & betty brazil with there tad jerry has the first set made for a fat head they realy liked them until he had to take them off he still has them & will run them if allowed

 

The T&D rockers have been approved for TAD and TAFC