FE Roller Rockers-Which is Best

[Clois Harlan]

After checking availability, price, etc. I decided on Erson roller rockers. Ordered from Summitt and as usual they had them to me the next day for a $20 fee (total cost $609.00). At first I was leaning toward the Harland Sharpe rollers but after checking avail and price I went with the Sig Erson. Dove, Comp, and Shelby are all very good products but they are $300-$500 pricier for the set. The Harland Sharpe is also a good product but each part is priced seperately and unassembled eg: Rollers are priced at $319.00, Shafts $180.00, stands at $130.00 etc. for a total cost of $630.00. Not much difference in price from the Ersons but the stands were a direct ship from H-S and I was affraid they would not arrive by Friday.

Since I am running Edelbrock alum heads I changed out from bolts to Studs (as recommended) cost $90. I also went with a new set of Crane ball and cup push rods $90 (Wayne Turpin had recommended the Smith push rods but they couldn't deliver until later this week).

The Erson roller rocker arms are fully assembled and a nice fit (no machining) and the preload hydraulic lifter adustment is fairly simple with or without a dial indicator. I checked and set my lifter preload both ways (old way was with exhaust valve open and Intake closed I set the intake by running my adjusting screw on each arm down to where the push rod would not turn with your fingers and then turned the adjusting screw down and additional 1/4 turn and tightened the lock nut). This process takes about 30 minutes to set all sixteen valves but it works. And my little ole 428 sounds and runs very well again.

Thanks to everyone for their help in this decision.

Clois