Throwback Thursday: LS Rocker-Arm Tech with COMP Cams

We hope you’re ready for the end of the week because another Thursday is here. Friday is about to land on our garage door, and that means it’s time for another Throwback Thursday.

This week, we are taking a short trip back to May 2014, to check out, LS Rocker Arm Tech with COMP Cams. It’s easy to forget how much stress a rocker arm has to endure. Not only does it have to deal with the stress of a hardened pushrod forcing its will upon it, only to be strenuously resisted by the valve spring, but it must also multiply this movement while maintaining proper alignment on the relatively small area of the valve stem. Yeah, that’s not asking much.

LS rocker arms

Shaft-mounted rocker arms are a great performance upgrade for engines that will see a lot of abuse.

Throughout the last several decades, rocker arms have undergone vast improvements in design, and for the latest developments, we reached out to COMP Cams to shed some light on rocker arm choices for the LS family of engines.

In the original article, Trent Goodwin of COMP relayed, “The stock-LS rockers are a very good design, but they have some drawbacks. First, the trunnions are lift-limited, and the bearing packages are not designed for high-load use. Also, although very light, the stock-rocker body is not very stiff and can give up some valve lift in higher spring rate and/or higher RPM applications.”

Don’t think this is a problem that can’t be overcome, in fact, COMP Cams’ Rocker Arm Trunnion Upgrade Installation Kit for the LS1/2/3/6/7 – Part #13702-KIT eliminates the factory bearing package and powdered-metal trunnion, and replaces it with a captive-roller bearing design and an 8420-alloy trunnion, resulting in less chance of bearing failure and engine damage.

LS rocker arms

Stock LS rockers have some sophisticated design features, but they aren’t without their weaknesses. Finding needle rollers in the oil pan is, unfortunately, a fairly common sight for many LS owners.

But, at what point should you start considering a rocker-arm upgrade? “With either the COMP stud-mounted or pedestal-mounted system, you should feel quite comfortable into the 8,000-rpm range if the rest of the valve system is stable, and well past 0.700-inch lift can be accommodated,” explains Goodwin. “Both of the COMP rockers provide increased stiffness over OEM, and the roller tips are proven to be easier on guides, especially in high spring-load applications and at high lift.  Roller-tip rockers also help to increase the life of the rocker and valve tips in high-stress applications.”

The article actually gets into the nitty-gritty of the benefits and installation, and suffice to say, there’s a lot more in-depth insight and an install highlighted in this informative article. That definitely makes it worthy of a second look. For that reason, I selected LS Rocker Arm Tech with COMP Cams as this week’s Throwback Thursday showcase article.

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About the author

Randy Bolig

Randy Bolig has been working on cars and has been involved in the hobby ever since he bought his first car when he was only 14 years old. His passion for performance got him noticed by many locals, and he began helping them modify their vehicles.
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