New Trunnion Upgrade

[waynieZ]

Thanks! I'm still here watching for results.

[71RS/SS396]

I was contacted by CHE as a result of this thread. They are going to offer their bushings in a DIY kit now for $250.

[Che70velle]

Tim, do you have updates for these units? I figured you'd have your engine apart this time of year...
I have a new engine project in mind, and I'm going bushings this time around.

[71RS/SS396]

Scott, I've taken the rockers apart on both my wife's car (CHE) and mine (Straub) to inspect them for wear/damage. So far both of them have held up well, on my wife's car I saw maybe .0001" of wear over 5,000 miles but I believe that will settle down because the ground surface of the trunion shaft is pretty rough when I look at it under a magnifier when they're new, hers were polished nicely on the load side after some miles. The CHE bushings being released for diy install are going to be slip fit versus pressed which I believe will actually work better and lower the moi and friction loss of the rocker since it will be able to rotate around the bushing. We haven't had the opportunity to test the new CHE design yet but I believe it will be the best bushing upgrade available.

[Build-It-Break-it]

For anyone interested in the CHE trunion upgrade they're on sale this month for $200 shipped if you contact them.

[samckitt]

Other than the larger diameter shaft, is there any proof that one is better than the other? Che vs Straub. And with the larger diameter shaft, the bushing becomes thinner, so is it a pro or a con? Price difference now, we are looking about about $50?

[71RS/SS396]

Originally Posted by samckitt

Other than the larger diameter shaft, is there any proof that one is better than the other? Che vs Straub. And with the larger diameter shaft, the bushing becomes thinner, so is it a pro or a con? Price difference now, we are looking about about $50?

The bushing being thinner is a benefit in this case since it makes it lighter (it's about half of the weight of the Straub bushing), any weight you can remove from the rocker will aid in control of the valvetrain. The CHE bushing also has a spiral oil groove machined in it as well.With that being said. Is it necessary to go that far? I don't know yet, I'm trying both kits on 2 different engines and so far they've both held up better than the needle bearing style upgrades.

[samckitt]

I'm not doing an all out race engine, so these arent really a requirement for me, but I took advise of a certain tuner on the cam choice & used one that has about a .611/.610 lifts, so I'm thinking I should change to something other than stock "bearing". Was concerned about the little needle bearings from the beginning.

[71RS/SS396]

Originally Posted by samckitt

I'm not doing an all out race engine, so these arent really a requirement for me, but I took advise of a certain tuner on the cam choice & used one that has about a .611/.610 lifts, so I'm thinking I should change to something other than stock "bearing". Was concerned about the little needle bearings from the beginning.

I have an blown up engine in the shop (we didn't build it) that I think died a slow death from all of the fairy dust being sent through it from the needle bearing upgrade. This engine had a mild performance cam with .600 lift, it had 12,500 miles on it.

Here's one of the trunion shafts out of the engine

[kevin_l]

Guys, I can't thank you enough for starting this thread. I recently picked up a set of 243 heads for my ls1 chevy II. When the time comes to swap heads I am also planning on changing out the cam, doing a rocker trunnion upgrade, high volume oil pump ect at the same time. After reading this thread and many on ls1tech I decided to order a set of CHE trunnions at $200 shipped. Talked to Matt he was very helpful.