Originally Posted by Pwraddr

Thanks for sharing, a raylar!

Do you sell the rocker arm nuts separate?

Originally Posted by Pwraddr

Thanks raylar, what are the specs on your 203 camshaft? How does that cam compare to the comp XR270?

Originally Posted by Pwraddr

Theirs is 218 224 @50 so yours has a bit more.

What is your lift? lobe separation and intake centerline?

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1078&sb=2

Originally Posted by Raylar

Good morning to all those with extra time on their hands. Just a couple thoughts. First ,the Dart heads.; good part. The biggest draw back in my opinion is that after you buy the heads, you now also have to buy all new valves and spring components. None of the stock 8.1 iron head parts fit. This adds cost and effort and not every body has sources for valves and springs. And they still weigh 76 LBS! They still make good power but you have to put them all together. The stock iron heads can be ported and cleaned up, but will never be able to match the air flow of the dart or Raylar heads because of the thin wall casting and short side Radius. Also the Raylar heads weigh 38 LBS so no smashed fingers, better heat transfer and higher compression which adds HP. Also mine come complete.

Pistons,,,, Another subject... stay with forged. You can put the Silvalite cast pistons in but then you are replacing a weak piston with a new weak piston. Have heard of forged pistons to replace the stock cast pistons, but I've never seen any. So that generally leaves replacing the cast pistons with custom made forged pistons and H beam rods that use the .990 wrist pins instead of the metric wrist pins. That is what I use. No more trouble with durability. It would need to be balanced, however they are generally lighter than stock cast pistons and rods. This is also a normal machine shop build step. This can all be done for much cheaper than buying a Marc blue 525 engine. And 525/ 600 Hp out of a 496/8.1 is easy.

Rockers,,, you can buy anybody's BB 1.7 rockers, buy ARP studs and install them on your heads. Fits well, then try to fit the valve covers. Woops wont fit. Then you can make or find spacers to raise the valve covers. What a pain. Will they leak? Next choice is to cut down all the polley locks and the studs to fit under the valve covers. What are those dimensions? Trial and error. Got a lathe in your shop? How much time does that take? With race engines, I would spend the time to do all that just to put a stud girdle on it for stability, or Crower makes Shaft Rockers for the 496. Wonderful parts. Looks like jewelry. But for 95% of the 496 engines you can just buy my Stainless Roller rockers and kit and be done in 45 min. A little more money but works every time. When you add up the cost of all the ARP and rockers and the time you need to spend , sounds like a good part.

Some people just enjoy the art of building parts. So do I.

Larry Hofer