According to "The Sports Car Engine", by Colin Campbell, and thanks to Tom
Weincek, the God of Plenty that I have a copy, The purpose is to reduce
weight primarily, and secondly to reduce the possibility of fatigue. Any
extra weight that can be removed from the valve train releases horse power.
The book goes on to say that the valves can be ground to different shapes,
but lightening holes should not be drilled because they increase the chance
of stress risers. It further states that shot peening should also be done,
but this should precede any final polishing. Lou
----- Original Message -----
From: Jarrid Gross <jarrid_gross@earthlink.net>>
>
> Decided to get off my rear, and get back to alpining, when
> I stumbled across a couple sets of rocker towers I was going
> to do something with.
>
> I decided that I would lighten and polish them like the rootes works
> racers did in the good ole days.
> I actually sat down and polished 1 to see what was involved.
>
> The good news is "it CAN be done".
> The bad news is that the rockers are steel, not cast iron
> like I originally thought, and with well over an hours effort
> I was able only to smooth the casting flash and polish
> a single rocker.
>
> Now, before I get all gung ho about the other 7, would
> someone give me a good technical reason for why I should
> do this.
> "Smooth" sounds good, they look pretty, but if stress relief is
> the consensus, then is shot peening a better bet, or should
> I do both?
>
>
> While were on rockers, after I regrind the radius's on the rocker
> tips, what should I do to re-harden them?
> Years ago, we discussed casenite, but that was when I thought
> that the rockers were cast iron?
>
> Tom W. metalurgist et al?
>
>
>
> Jarrid Gross
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