what rockers pushrods and cam for afr 165's

[91fiveohnotch]

Hey guys ive been looking on the forums for a while and i finally decided to sign up. But besides that, Im planning on buying afr 165's, a edelbrock performer intake. This is where the confusion starts for me though. Im totally lost when it comes to pedestal mount heads vs stud mount. Also whats the deal with the pushrod lengths and the rockers 1.7 vs 1.6. And last what cam would be a good match. Im not entirely concerned how lopey the cam is compared to the performance gain. thanks guys and sorry for the noob questions i just want to be prepared before going in head first

 

[90stang5speed]

I have the AFR 185's on mine and they have guide plates. Im guessing that the 165's do too. If so, you will have to get hardened push rods. I didnt know that & reused my stock pushrods. I just did my intake swap & upgraded to the 1.72 rockers & new lifters. The guide plates had eaten into my stock push rods really bad. I called summit & they recommended some from trick flo that I have in there now. Im sorry I dont have a part number for ya though.

 

[FastDriver]

Pushrod lengths can never be specified accurately without actually measuring. You can buy a pushrod length tool from summit.

The rocker size depends on the cam and what lift you're trying to achieve at the valve.

I reused the stock pushrods with my AFR165s and did fine for the 10-12k miles I drove it before I sold it.

If you're asking what to go with between pedestal and stud mount rockers, go with the studs. They're easier to adjust and you can get a smaller combustion chamber volume which helps bump compression a little and hence you'll get a couple more hp. The only reason I went with pedestal is because I already had a decent set of FMS B351 rockers. Basically the difference between pedestal and stud mounts are that one rocker sits atop a stud and can be locked in at any height along that stud, and the other sits on top of a pedestal and is basically bolted on top of the pedestal. In order to adjust this rocker, you have to add shims under the pedestal to raise it, and I guess you'd have to grind the pedestal to lower it. I'm not sure if there's any stability advantage to stud mount rockers, but I don't think it's really going to make a difference in your application.

Ed Curtis at FTI does amazing work with the 302/AFR165 combos. You should also consider having your Performer ported by a guy like Tom Moss - it's worth the extra dough if you can afford to.

 

[91fiveohnotch]

ok i get the difference between pedestal and stud heads are now, thanks! now my question is if i run say a trick flow stage 1 cam, will I have any trouble running stock length hardened pushrods ( and yes the 165's do have the guides in them). and my last question would be, what difference does a 1.7 vs 1.6 rocker make. once again im sorry about the stupid questions

 

[90stang5speed]

Im not an expert on valve train geometry so I cant say what length push rods are correct but, I use stock lenght pushrods on mine. As for 1.6 vs 1.7 rockers. if the cam specs are given using 1.6 rocker, for example, like my F303 cam, the specs were .512 lift & 226 duration. Now with 1.72 rockers the cam has .544 lift & 230 duration. the 1.72's open the valves a little sooner, open them further, and close them later. If you want to know what they will do to your cam specs, divide you cam specs by 1.6 & then multiply by 1.7. I believe that the 1.7 shift the RPM range of the cam upward. lets say the RPM range was from 2500-6000 it would shift up to 3000-6500. Thats just an example & Im not even sure its correct info. please correct me if Im wrong on that as I dont like to put out bad info.

 

[xracer22]

I have edelbrock performer heads with 2.02 valves, f303 cam and edelbrock performer intake on my 1995. I was also in the same situation u are. I have had both pedestal and stud mount and would say go with the stud mount. Either way you will have to get hardened pushrods if the heads have guideplates because they will wear on the side if not hardened. The stud mount rockers are more stable at higher rpm's and you will have a better selection of rocker arms with stud mounts. Also not everybody considers this when buying stuff but I do all the time and it's that if you ever consider selling the heads you will have a bigger market to sell to if(or when, cause the need to go faster gets worse as you go) needed.

 

[xracer22]

Also the letter cams (e303, b303, f303,x303, etc.) are good cams and im not saying anything bad about them as i run them. But they are older cams and there are "better/newer" cams available, such as steeda, trick flow, anderson etc. that have better duration and power curves. HOWEVER if you can get letter cams that are used and are a good deal then by all means get one. i run a f303 in my weekend warrior and if it were me i wouldnt get anything more aggressive than that because driveability issues. GOOD LUCK

 

[91fiveohnotch]

Thanks you guys are lots of help! Ive been looking alot over the weekend and Im kinda leaning towards the Trick Flow kit now. It takes the guesswork out of it. From the #'s ive seen between AFR 165's and the trick flow kit theres really not much of a difference.

 

[91fiveohnotch]

Also the only real advantage 1.7 rr have is shifting the rpm range up? This cars my daily driver so im not going to be seeing much past 4k only if ive got some civic next to me. Im thinkin the Trick Flow 350hp 370tq kit. With that i was going to get a 75mm throttle body, 76mm MAF, 24lb injectors, 255lph fuel pump (room for future mods) and some headers to go with my x pipe and pypes violators.