Rocker arm clearance q?

I receantly bought a short block from a co-worker that has a cam that has a lift of 574 intake and 595 exhaust. He had heads on the engine that withstood 700 degrees of lift so he worried none about clearance, but my heads are trick flow track heat heads that the max lift is 600. will this work with 1.7 rocker arms or will it be too close to call? I appreciate the help.

What is it? A 5.0?

From the lift you mentioned I would guess that the camshaft in your motor is the Trick Flow stage III cam. So if thats thats the case then we must be talking about a 5.0/5.8. The stock rocker arm ratio on a small block ford is 1.6:1. With 1.7 rockers the valve lift on that cam would be .609" on the intake side and .632 on the exhaust. So to answere your question, No. You will have some serious coil bind if you try to run 1.7's on that cam with .600 springs. You will actually be snapping pushrods just trying to turn the motor over, and could destroy your lifters. That cam is designed for hydraulic roller lifters incase you didnt know. Even with 1.6 rockers which that cam was ground for where you will have .574/.595 lift your valve springs will not be enough. You will have severe valve float and I'd say some coil bind as well. To run that camshaft you need to upgrade the rest of your valvetrain. You will need springs that will take more lift, and you will need more spring pressure than what Trick Flow set those heads up with.

What does the rest of your motor consist of? Thats alot of cam for a hydro roller, you may not need so much cam. To help you make the right choice I will need to know more about what you are trying to do. A bigger cam does not always mean more power. In about 3 months I'll be pushing over 600hp with probably right at or close to 700ft lbs of torque to the rear tires. Just FYI I have Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and the F303 camshaft on 1.6 rockers, and a PT76GTSP turbo to make most of my power lol. But I mentioned my smaller heads and cam just to make the point that bigger isnt always better. My car had great street manners with the blower on it. It made the numbers in my sig on an aborted dyno pull, had to shut it down 800rpms early because it ran lean, poped a head gasket, and lost 3psi of boost out the water jackets and covered the dyno floor with water out of my overflow. Also back on the topic of cams and valve springs I had a very slight amount of valve float at 6000rpms with the stock equipment on the heads from Edelbrock. My heads have springs with a max lift of .575 and my cam is only .512 lift on intake and exhaust with Comp Pro-Magnum roller rockers. I changed the valve spring keepers and gained about 20 more lbs of seat pressure, I shouldnt have anymore valve float.

If this is a street car you are building then I would suggest installing a different camshaft. But I cant really suggest a good cam for you unless I know more abolut your motor and what you want to do with it. But to be honest with you that big TFS cam wont really pick up until probably 3500 rpms or more, but I'd say it would make good power past all the way to or past 7000rpms with a bigger set of heads. That cam is just too much for the heads that you have. Just tell us all you can about your motor, what tranny, what you want to do with the car, and how many rpms you want to turn and we can help you make the right choice to get you want you want.

I really appriciate the help your giving me. To answer your questions to help you to help me, yes the cam is a trick flow stage 3 cam, and the set up is for my 92 mustang. the block is a 306, and i work with a guy who originally built the block, rods, crank, ect. I agree the cam is pretty extreme, but he had it all set up in his car and ran fine, the block has just over 1500 miles on it and he took it out because he wants to make his mustang a twin turbo, so he sold it to me. He had bigger heads indeed but i'm not exactly sure wich ones. I had these heads for the previous motor, so i thought i might get lucky and use them, but once i started thinking, i knew it would be closer than i really actually wanted to stress my engine. He ran 11.4 on motor was his best with it, and he has a 89' gt convert. My car is a 92 Lx with built rearend, carrier, 4.10 gears, strange 31 spline axles c-clip eliminators, girdle, aluminum driveshaft, g-force t-5, everything should hold the power i am lookin for. i just need to make it first. I would like the car to be streetable, but if it runs ruff, that isn't all that bad cuz i wont be driving it on the streets all too much. I would like to keep the cam, i' am wiling to get rid of the heads in order to do so because that would be the easyist, i would also like to try to keep the 1.7's but if i don't work, u gota do what u gota do. I am highly open to suggestions about heads that will work good with this setup. I do have a very good 2 stage NOS setup to use also, with the retard controls and such, so SC and turbos are out of the budget and picture. I look forward to the help and once again greatly appriciate your time and help. thanx

It would be cheaper to keep your heads and swap the cam. But if you want that big cam then I would deffinatly suggest you buy some 1.6 ratio rocker arms.

How much power do you want to make? Is this a drag racing street/strip kind of build? You say its a 306ci, what block, crank, and pistons are in it? If its the stock block, crank, rods with aftermarket .030 over pistons you will need to keep the RPMs down to around 6500 maximum and the power lower than 500 to keep the stock equipment alive. Those stock 5.0 blocks are good to around 500rwhp before they are ready to break in a boosted application. But with an all motor setup 500fwhp is more like it due to the higher RPM. The reason for that being the stock block has very weak main webbing and the stock cast crank will flex more than a steel crank of course. But its the crankshaft flex that generally takes out the stock block. Also make sure those rods have some good bolts in them or you will be snapping rod bolts. 6500rpms is pushing the stock equipment and it wont live long.

If you decide to keep the cam then I would suggest TFS-R heads in order to take advantage of that cam. Heres a link: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=TFS%2D52400003%2DCNC&N=700+4294925232+4294838998+4294908331+400098+4294 840126+4294867081+4294867028+4294784325+115&autoview=sku

Also you will need to run 1.6 rockers with that cam to use the valve springs ect sent by Trick Flow.

I need specifics to help you buy the exact right parts. Stock block, crank, rods or aftermarket? What pistons? Can you get a part number for them? The pistons will make a different in head choice too due to the compression height ect. Tell me details on the short block and I will be able to help you more.

The block is the only thing that is left stock. It has a Eagle steel crank shaft, ESP 5140 steel SIR I-beam connecting rods, it has comp pushrods, not exactly sure which ones, It has trickflow pistons set up with the 10:1 compression, It has a main cap girdle also. I would like to get the most reliable power out of the engine. I cant say i only want to make 400 hp when i could get 450 or so out of it. but i want it to be reliable, not under extreme pressure, but pretty crazy. I just want the most horse power possible with out breaking shit. I was thinking about the trickflow twisted wedge r series heads a while ago, but what steered me away from those is the exhaust ports are relocated which means i can't use my brand new headers and have to get different ones that are usually very expensive. I gave it some thought and the easiest thing for me to do is just keep the cam and i could get rid of the heads so i would love to hear a suggestion on a different type of heads that will work with the bbk headers i have. I would like them to flow well, but a question u might be able to answer is when would it be flowing too much for the application. I don't want to go overboard, but want plenty flowing capability. If i keep the cam and the 1.7's what options would i have for heads then?

To keep that cam and use 1.7's you will need huge heads. That combo will run like a dog on the street and really only show its power at the track. Unless of course you can turn 7000rpms on the street. But, to take advantage of that cam with 1.7's the rpms will be high, too high for the stock block to live. You will be getting cap walk with the factory 2-bolt block in no time at pretty much anything over 6000rpms as a general rule of thumb.

But since you seem to be pretty well set in running that large hydro roller with 1.7's you have a couple options.
1: you can keep the track heats and pour money into them. They will need some pretty heavy port work as well as better valve springs. Just find a reputable machine shop near you that you trust, let them open up the heads and upgrade the valve train and you will be fine. But be sure their work is proven first, you can make or break a set of heads depending on what you do to the ports.
2: You can buy a set of Edelbrock Victor heads, or TFS R's or High-ports and get some headers that will work with them. The raised exhaust port is common in the larger cylinder heads as it improves flow capabilities on the exhaust side. You are looking at spending some cash either way.

Why is it that you dont want to change the cam? It would be much cheaper and you could hit 400-450hp with much less cam and be much happier with it on the street. You mentioned that you have a nitrous oxide system for the car. In that case a cam like this with 1.6 rockers would run well with your 306ci motor with track heat heads. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=LUN%2D51025LUN&N=700+4294924497+4294908331+4294840126+4294889096+ 4294887637+4294887636+4294887295+115&autoview=sku

You will do what you want, all I can do is offer advise. But if you want to keep that block alive then you will need to change the cam. If you are 100% sold on that cam then get some 1.6 rockers. With that much cam you are really over the track heat capabilities and streetability will suffer. That cam will sound great but so will a much smaller cam if you know what to look for. Dont get hung up in the lift numbers, much like hp numbers bigger sounds better. But for the user its not always the best option. Now, the TFS II cam is also a great choice. But that stage III cam is meant more for race only big headed, high compression, high rpm combinations.

If you like then spend the money to max out those track heat heads and use the stage III cam with 1.7's. But I say you will be much happier going to a smaller cam that you can use with your existing heads. Plus, track heat heads, decent cam & intake, and the nitrous will make way more than enough power to break that stock block.