1.8 rockers?

**richard head** · 06-01-2011, 11:34 PM

hey all, i've been looking into engine building (got 200k coming up and need a bit of freshening...) and am have decided to leave the bottom end and internals basically stock for the simple reason that it works great how it is and i don't want to tear it apart later. so, atm, the plan is basically to just do the timing chain and a compression test - but i think it'll be all good, motor has worked great for 50k miles under my lead foot now.

if i wanted to get a bit of extra oomph out of it though, could i do rods/springs/rockers and rev it to, say, 6500 safely? also, the 1.8 ratio rockers would be more or less the equivalent of a mild cam, i think... would i need a fuel pump or injectors to support that kind of upgrade?

current mods are catback, stall, hptuners, lid, functional ram air, bumpstop mod and !maf, along with sfc's and the free mods. (basically, pulled the maf to do the VE table and it just ran so good i can't stand having a maf in there anymore lol)

**Ant71130** · 06-02-2011, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by richard head

hey all, i've been looking into engine building (got 200k coming up and need a bit of freshening...) and am have decided to leave the bottom end and internals basically stock for the simple reason that it works great how it is and i don't want to tear it apart later. so, atm, the plan is basically to just do the timing chain and a compression test - but i think it'll be all good, motor has worked great for 50k miles under my lead foot now.

if i wanted to get a bit of extra oomph out of it though, could i do rods/springs/rockers and rev it to, say, 6500 safely? also, the 1.8 ratio rockers would be more or less the equivalent of a mild cam, i think... would i need a fuel pump or injectors to support that kind of upgrade?

current mods are catback, stall, hptuners, lid, functional ram air, bumpstop mod and !maf, along with sfc's and the free mods. (basically, pulled the maf to do the VE table and it just ran so good i can't stand having a maf in there anymore lol)

I don't know enough to chime in on things you actually want to hear about. All I want to say is, I would *assume* if you're doing a cam equivalent valvetrain upgrade, you would need at least a better pump unless a tune can change how much they squirt and the OEm piece can support that. Idk for sure.

On another note, you have NO MAF?

**98TransAmWs-6** · 06-02-2011, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by richard head

hey all, i've been looking into engine building (got 200k coming up and need a bit of freshening...) and am have decided to leave the bottom end and internals basically stock for the simple reason that it works great how it is and i don't want to tear it apart later. so, atm, the plan is basically to just do the timing chain and a compression test - but i think it'll be all good, motor has worked great for 50k miles under my lead foot now.

if i wanted to get a bit of extra oomph out of it though, could i do rods/springs/rockers and rev it to, say, 6500 safely? also, the 1.8 ratio rockers would be more or less the equivalent of a mild cam, i think... would i need a fuel pump or injectors to support that kind of upgrade?

current mods are catback, stall, hptuners, lid, functional ram air, bumpstop mod and !maf, along with sfc's and the free mods. (basically, pulled the maf to do the VE table and it just ran so good i can't stand having a maf in there anymore lol)

Um when you say "oomph" do you mean power? Cause with those upgrades you aren't going to feel anything, good upgrades just not power ones. Also why would you change the timing chain and not do a cam swap? You are down there anyways so you might as well IMO. You do have a SD tune for running no maf right?

**BRANDON** · 06-02-2011, 11:26 AM

yes the 1.8 rockers would be like adding a very small cam,i had the 1.85 on mine before with no other valve train upgrades and had the rev limit set to 6500 and took it there many times,and i had the stock injectors and fuel pump but i had a tune,so yes it should work with a tune and you will get a little more

**BRANDON** · 06-02-2011, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by 98TransAmWs-6

Um when you say "oomph" do you mean power? Cause with those upgrades you aren't going to feel anything, good upgrades just not power ones. Also why would you change the timing chain and not do a cam swap? You are down there anyways so you might as well IMO. You do have a SD tune for running no maf right?

a cam swap would be more of the way to go and make more hp

**Spaz** · 06-02-2011, 12:03 PM

1.8 rockers are not the way to go... especially if you want a cam later on... most of the cams on the market are based off of people using stock ratio rockers...

**transamtom** · 06-02-2011, 01:51 PM

A good set of heads will make more power than great cam

**Ant71130** · 06-02-2011, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Spaz

1.8 rockers are not the way to go... especially if you want a cam later on... most of the cams on the market are based off of people using stock ratio rockers...

This

**richard head** · 06-03-2011, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by 98TransAmWs-6

Um when you say "oomph" do you mean power? Cause with those upgrades you aren't going to feel anything, good upgrades just not power ones. Also why would you change the timing chain and not do a cam swap? You are down there anyways so you might as well IMO. You do have a SD tune for running no maf right?

yes on the SD tune... and good point on the cam. anything else durability wise? should i pull the thing apart and replace gaskets? what fails on super-high-mileage LS1 motors?