Yes, it WAS a 383 stroker.  It's now a 287 stroker with the two missing jugs.

Larry,
I would definitely have the builder use the Harland Sharp 1.6 ratio aluminum roller rockers with the 7/16 stud. My stroker kept breaking the 3/8 studs. No problem since I changed to the 7/16 stud. Good Luck.

BTW, what's your torque on that engine?

I'll see if that's a possibility, would they have to drill the heads & retap to a 7/16 ?

Larry,
I didn't have to do anything to my heads to switch from the 3/8 to the 7/16 studs. I also changed my roller rockers from the 1.5 to the 1.6.

I have never used my NOS system. When it's turned on, it's set up on a chip that  kicks it in at full throttle @ 2600RPM  and kicks out @ 6000. Why have I never used it? The car scares me without it. Guess i'm just too old and losing my nerve but it is a"rush" to feel that 512 lbs of torque. 

I don't think your problem came from reving the engine to over 5500 RPM. American Speed built my engine and I was told that 6500 was well within the limit.
rearn2go722007-02-03 22:46:46

Funny I know what you mean, without nos, the road has to be very dry to keep traction. Just a bit of moisture or dirt and it breaks loose. I was going to use the nos at the Bremerton raceway where the track has much better traction. Thanks for the info!   I will check in to the Harland 1.6 with 7/16 studs.

Joel's sort of hit on what I was thinking when looking at the pics.  My first question was, "did it have fulcrum balls fitted?".  That black nasty looking lack of lube look on the rocker that hasn't broken, doesn't show any sign of the smoothness you would have where the two surfaces mate. Chips582007-02-04 15:51:40

The preinstallation pictures appear to show several rockers misaligned with the valves. That coincides with the wear patterns on the edge of the rollers. Looks to me like the misaligment led to binding and premature wear.
Scott

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Yup...that's whut I were lookin at too, guys. Check out these 2 photos that I marked, and it is obvious there is an alignment issue. Granted, the angle of the photo will induce a small amount of optical illusion, but not this much. If you look directly at the contact point of the roller on the valve tip, you will see it is way off on a couple of the rockers.

I thought it was a sloppy way of rocker alignment, but thought it was better than non-roller rockers. Wish I knew better before. Guess that makes the learning process sometimes painfull. Thanks Joel !! Great drawing !!  I can see how the misalignment easily could cause the push rod to rub & bind on the guide.  Looks Like I'll be needing at least one hydraulic lifter replaced along with the rest. I think one of the push rods popped the retainer clip off the top of the lifter and a couple of pieces of it I pulled out with a magnet. There should be pleanty of time to get it fixed before Carson city, else I may have to transplant my John Deere motor out of the lawn mower  ;)

Larry if I were you, I'd definitely consider going back with solid lifters.