All right, this is sort a a weird question, but here goes. When I picked up my 350 block from the previous owner, he threw in the heads that came off the engine for free. The motor came from an early 80's truck or van, and I had a set of 416 heads from the original 305 in the firebird I'm swapping into, so I didn't really look at the heads too much. But today I did notice that the truck heads had roller rocker arms on them. My question then becomes "should I / can I use the roller rockers with the ported 416 heads, and how do I tell what ratio and stud size they use?" will there be much benefit, or will it be an unneccessary headache? Motor info is as follows:
heads are 416 castings, ported, bigger valves
comp xe268 cam
Holley 750 DP carb
weiand stealth intake manifold
dynomax blackjack shorty headers
355 block, cast flattop pistons w/moly rings
etc....

 

You will need whatever stud size the old heads with the roller rockers has. The 416's, when ported, will be better than any of the truck heads. Go for it, if they already are ported and have bigger valves there shouldnt be any other cost increase, as i will almost bet they have the standard 3/8 studs. Make sure they are screw in though, as opposed to "pull out".

 

The rocker arms should have 1.5 or 1.6 stamped somewhere on the tip of them. Definitly use the rollers, alot better and more performance.

 

Well, I'll check again when I get home, but there was nothing stamped on them at all except an F on the underside near the roller when I checked before. What else do I need, assuming they are 3/8 studs? I have never used roller rockers on any engine before, so I need some edumacation on the subject. I have all the hardware from the truck heads, so I can use that, but what else would I need? New pushrods, lifters, cam, etc?

 

You shouldent need anything else. Maby diffrent pushrods but i doubt it.

 

I think the rocker ***** from the 416 heads are different from the truck heads. One set has four grooves machined into the face, the others are smooth. Only reason I don't know which is which is because my wife decided she would help me organize and just dumped a lot of stuff in one container, and now I don't know which is which. Any ideas? The grooved ones look like the pic below.

 

i belive 416s are smooth but dubble check to be sure

 

I looked at summit online, and they have the grooved ***** for both stock style stamped rockers and stock style roller rockers, so I don't know. They are physically identical except for the grooves

 

use the grooved ones, they just a little bit more oil through to help lubricate.

 

That's what I was hoping. Thanks a lot.

 

I used the grooved ones on my set of 416s, works just fine.