I am gonna buy a shaft system for my 555ci . this is what I have . merlin 2 block , cola crank , eagle h-b rods L19 bolts ross 14to 1 pistons .AFR heads 225 runners and cnc chambers , comp cam 284 292 @50.was thinking about the sportsman jesels .

I am gonna buy a shaft system for my 555ci . this is what I have . merlin 2 block , cola crank , eagle h-b rods L19 bolts ross 14to 1 pistons .AFR heads 225 runners and cnc chambers , comp cam 284 292 @50.was thinking about the sportsman jesels .

Hi H
This for your "street" engine :D
Good plan but I would prefer the Competition Jesels or the T&D's

Spendy but nice stuff. email me when you decide & I will see what I can do ;)

Their website is not much, contact T&D with your cylinder head info and desired ratios for intake and exhaust http://www.tdmach.com/contact.shtml Nothing wrong with the Jesel Sportsmans, but you might want to consider spending more and getting more. I'm guessing that with 14:1 compression that you will have stout valve springs and be spinning beyond 7,500 rpm. Are you sure on the 225 cc runner size? - that will not really feed a 555. I'm not even sure a 325 cc runner would work on that engine unless rpms were kept lower.

Thomas

Im sorry I ment 325 I had smallblocks on my brain . been looking around but not much information out there crane has them and I see that comp has a shaft sys to so just trying to find somthing that works and I can afford .

I've had excellent results with T&D. used them on several different engines starting with a Dart Buick 406, a couple of them were pretty aggressive and never a problem of any kind. held lash well too.

I've got T&D Shaft Rockers on my AFR cnc'd 335's, so I know that that's a viable option. The Jesel Sportsmans came across as a compromised versions, quite a few critical remarks concerning the big block tie bar configuration, "Janky" was the word most often used. The Cranes are kinda new, so there isn't alot of first hand experience to draw on. For me, the turn off was the use of a "plastic" bushing/bearing.

T&D's are getting alot more popular even some recent publication recognition, they must be doing something right over there. Mike Lewis turned me on to them.

I did not like the cheaper sportsmen Jesels; they do not properly hold the rocker stands in alignment, real pain to get them aligned correctly and keep them there.

Jody

I Have no experience with any shaft system . but at 800 bucks for the "cheeper" jesels , I would like to know that I am not wasting my money . I see plenty of very fast cars, one running 6.90s with a blown small block with stud rockers and stud-G .


AS for the AFR 325s feeding a 555ci. we shall see.

I`ve got Crane Sportsman shaft system and they look and feel pretty nice.Really easy to set lash, never going back! Haven`t run them yet,but I`m going to dyno my engine next month, so we will see..

Pete

As far as all this goes...you probably will find people out there "getting away" with cheaper stuff in some cases...like studs for example. However, just cause they are getting away with it at the time...it dont mean it lasts. We got away with a 150 shot of juice on a cast piston, cast crank, cast rod hunk of junk .060 over 350 that was beat for 3 years in this configuration running 11.68 at best. Dont know how this miracle motor even survived that long...but after upping the juice even more from the 150 level....the absolute very first time it saw a bad backfire took a piston or two with it. It should never have lived that long(so Im not reccomending this)...but if it had a good strong bottom end...it probably woulda lived through the incedent that killed the junk cast pistons.

Your in the same situation. Even though you see people cheaping out and you might be able to do it as well....listen to these guys cause they know what works, and most importantly, they know that this stuff will last good. So like me, even if you cheap out and get away with it for a while....it still wont do it for as long as it could with the good stuff. And to me, a long life is just as important(At least) as making the big power as well.

I was just going to say the same thing. Nothing beats a shaft setup, but I myself fall into the poorman range and run stud rockers on my 548. It's a .748/.748 roller with K-Motion K-1000h springs on a 325 dart pro-1 head. I have ARP studs with a Crane Gold Rocker with a Stud Girdle. Are they as good as a shaft setup, no, but so far they have done the job.