Hold down clamp from a rocker arm

[Frank S]

Wow Thanks Jon, completely unexpected.

[nova_robotics]

Beauty. I love the low-key style of it. If I had any SBC rockers laying around I would definitely use them for... things.

I have a t-shirt that says "1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. If you recognize this number we can be friends."

[Frank S]

Beauty. I love the low-key style of it. If I had any SBC rockers laying around I would definitely use them for... things.

I have a t-shirt that says "1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. If you recognize this number we can be friends."

probably the second firing order I learned right after too young, too old, just right

[Ed Weldon]

I wonder if these GM rocker arms are heat treated steel with a high carbon content. If not you should be able to weld to them to make oddball shaped hold downs like when you have to machine a cast part or assemply that has no usable machining registry spots. Like parts of automobiles or machine tools.

[Toolmaker51]

I wonder if these GM rocker arms are heat treated steel with a high carbon content. If not you should be able to weld to them to make oddball shaped hold downs like when you have to machine a cast part or assemply that has no usable machining registry spots. Like parts of automobiles or machine tools.

Speculation; they are mild steel to withstand drawing [forming] and deep casehardened. Either way, very close to file hard.

[Saltfever]

Love it, Frank! I have dozens of them laying around . . . just couldn't thrown them out. LOL Maybe add a ball bearing in the pushrod socket for point loading and a secure purchase?? . . . or to fit in one of the 1-2-3 block holes?

[katy]

I have a bunch of those some PO left in the shop. I never knew what they were for.

[Ed Weldon]

Case hardened small block rocker arms. Makes sense. I'd love to see the equipment setup for case hardening thousands of rocker arms.
OK; figuring a good case hardening is maybe .020 inch thick, that doesn't sound like a whole lot of extra carbon in a good (looking) weld. And given the nunber of small blocks that end up back in the electric furnaces, finding rocker arms for welding experiments should be easy. In the worst of all possible worlds the mods to a raw rocker arm can be made with good brazed joints to minimize the carbon migration and accomodate the natural loss of temper in the rocker arm structure.
This sounds like more damn trouble than it is worth. But then the vast majority of applied science activity (I hesitate to call ir "research") ends in failure.
And science is fun and more productive than watching athletes run around a field chasing a ball, especially if you could care less about the outcome of a game.

[Rikk]

I wonder if these GM rocker arms are heat treated steel with a high carbon content. If not you should be able to weld to them to make oddball shaped hold downs like when you have to machine a cast part or assemply that has no usable machining registry spots. Like parts of automobiles or machine tools.

I am not sure of the carbon content, but the ones we use are nitrided, never tried to weld one. I don't know enough about the nitride process to say what would happen if one tried to weld it. I do know that they are significantly tougher than the standard aftermarket racing bits. We went from several sets a season to swapping them once mid way through.

[madokie]

That looks like the same rocker arm in my 1962 Pontiac 389 V8.

I will see your 389 and raise you a 400 out of my 1977 Catalina Police Enforcer....now to those folks not aware,it was PONTIAC that came up with the stamped rocker arm back in 1948,chevy heard about it and demanded to use it in the new chevy v8 in 1955...usually when a division came up with something new they got a one year exclusive use of it before the other divisions could use it..not this time both chevy and Pontiac used the new stamped rocker arm in their new OHV V8 engines introduced in 1955...Pontiac was responsible for a lot of things back then,,including the mighty 426 HEMI !!!Pontiac was dominating NASCAR 1960-1963 and the Mopar guys could not keep up, so they were asked what would it take to beat Pontiac ?? the answer was always the same "Bring back the Hemi"!!!!! and thus was born the 426 Hemi....out of the ashes of the 392 Hemi...a talented mechanical engineer by the name of John Delorean worked at Pontiac,,, when he left almost 150 patents with John Deloreans name were on those patents...including a temperature controlled fan clutch that goes between the water pump and radiator..no telling how many millions of those fan clutches have been made...if you want to read a great book about the muscle car era , its "Glory Days" by Jim Wangers,who was there when the GTO was born and is considered the Godfather of the muscle car era..