The New Gold Standard In Rocker Arms?

We Put The New Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms From COMP Cams® To The Test

The cutting edge of technology continues to change at break-neck speed. And one of the main reasons behind that is COMP Cams®, which is constantly developing new products and improving existing ones to meet racers’ and engine builders’ demands to help them achieve better performance. One example is their development of the new Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms.

These new rockers are an alternative to steel rockers, which before now have been regarded as the standard for rocker arm strength. However, because of advances in both design and manufacturing processes, it’s now possible to have the strength of steel combined with aluminum’s light weight. The new rockers from COMP Cams® are among the first to achieve this new level of high performance.

Features

Designed specifically for high performance street and race engines, the COMP Cams® Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms are precision CNC-machined to exacting tolerances for unrivaled quality and ratio accuracy. The rockers have been designed to meet the demands of professional engine builders and include features never before possible in an aluminum rocker arm, including incredible strength, precise rocker ratios and a lifetime warranty.

The Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms also include standard features that simply aren’t found on many other brands. Multiple oil passages provide excellent pushrod and valve tip lubrication to protect your expensive valve train. The trunion bearings are precisely matched for size so that they can better withstand aggressive valve spring pressure and valve lift. In addition, these rockers are designed to clear large diameter valve springs to give you more options when matching up your valve train components.

For those not willing to trust the durability and performance of an engine to inferior quality rockers, the COMP Cams® Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms are the new “Gold Standard” in high performance aluminum rocker arm technology.

Applications

The COMP Cams® Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms are available in a wide range of ratio’s and stud sizes for Chevrolet V6, Small Block, Big Block, Gen III, LS1, LS2 and LS6 engines. They are also made for Small Block Ford and Pontiac V8 engines. For a full review of the rocker applications go to www.compcams.com/ultragold

Installation

The best part about these rocker arms is how easy they are to install. Take a look at the following installation of the GM LS1 rockers and you will see how simple they are to put in your engine. In this case the 1.72 ratio rockers are used.

Installation of these rockers begins with placing the washer on the mounting bolt. It’s important to note here that instructions are included with each set of COMP Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms. Make sure to read and follow the instructions for installation.

Next the bolt is put into the rocker and into the pedestal. The preassembly of each stand is important for the simplest installation technique.

Each rocker stand assembled unit is put into place. This photo shows the placement of the stand. Note that note that pushrods have been inserted.

With the rocker platform in place the rocker bolt is finger tightened to hold it in place. Tightening the bolt by hand provides a little security of holding the platform in place for the next step.

Bolts should be “snugged” into place. It’s important that they not be tightened too much because they must be torque down within certain specifications, which is the next step.

The final step is to torque the bolt in place. In this case studs are torqued to 22 lb/ft.

Dyno Testing

The new COMP Cams® Ultra-Gold™ Aluminum Rocker Arms have produced a solid advantage of horsepower gain for those who use them. The proof of the horsepower advantage is clear and is demonstrated in the following dyno chart. Note the red line is data recorded from the Ultra-Gold™ rockers and the black line is data from stock rockers. The horsepower advantage is clear throughout the dyno pull with the largest gain occurring at 6400 rpm. At 6400 rpm, the stock rocker data shows 290.50 hp, while the Ultra-Gold™ rockers record 303.95 hp. The net gain for the Ultra-Gold™ rockers versus the stock rockers is 13.45 hp. That's nearly 15 hp for a simple bolt-on performance upgrade.

For more information on these rockers and all the cutting-edge products from COMP Cams®, go to www.comcams.com