ith all the attention garnered by the Gen-III and big-block engine families lately, it’s easy to forget that traditional small-block buildups continue to outnumber them 5 to 1. When it comes to cylinder heads, there are loads of pre-assembled aftermarket castings from which to choose, but it’s a fact that lots and lots of budget small-block mills are still based on refurbished passenger car and light truck castings.
For the most part, these castings are compromised by factory-issue pressed-in rocker arm studs. Unlike screw-in rocker arm studs, the press fit variety is prone to stud failure or pull-out when high-tension valve springs and high-rpm operation enter the equation.
While Chevrolet did offer the occasional screw-in stud setup right from the factory on certain Corvette and high-performance passenger car engine packages, the extra machine work and assembly cost simply wasn’t justified on the bread and butter applications. But that doesn’t mean you can’t pick up where the factory left off.
The transition from iffy press-fit rocker studs to stone-axe reliable screw-in studs is a simple one that can be handled by any competent machine shop using basic equipment. We visited Superior Automotive and watched as Randy Guthrie demonstrated the upgrade process.
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