A while back I bought some ZZ4 heads off of ebay. They came without the rocker arms and until now I did not have the money to buy any. I've been reading previous posts about SA rocker arms, non-SA, and roller rocker arms.

First--Let me say what I gathered and tell me if I have misunderstood anything. The engines of pre-87 had a small fit for the pushrod and these engines required non-SA rocker arms. Now with a little machining, you could then use the SA rocker arms. On the 88-present engines, the hole for the push rod was a little bit bigger which allowed you to use the SA rocker arms or roller rocker arms. Also, you could use guide plates as well. Is this correct??

Second--Which type of application does the ZZ4 require. I assume the SA or roller kind.

Third--Is there anything that I need to look out for in finding the rocker arms for my heads. Any particular kind work well, not well.

Fourth--Sorry for the long post. I just want to make sure I'am getting the right stuff. Thanks in advance.

 

Rollerized rocker arms come in both flavors - "regular" and self-aligning. If you do not have teh push rod guide holes in the head (and have only clearance holes) you need to use either guide plates or aelf-aligning rockers.

 

Those heads came with guideplates , you dont need SA rocker arms for it . If you want to use full roller rockers , Crane makes a set of gold ones that fit under the centerbolt valve covers for $300 big ones . I would just use a roller tip rocker than pay through the nose for the Cranes . JMO though .....

 

The aluminum "l98 vette" heads came from the factory with guide plates, but these are not conventional guide plates, as they were used for head assembly purpose's ONLY. They still used the SA rockers. If you want to run guide plates, then youll have to replace the ones on there with hardened plates and pushrods.