By
Jason Reiss June 01, 2018It can be said that the stunningly beautiful rocker arm assemblies manufactured for the Chrysler Hemi platform by
Reid Machine are a clear case of a product which has been designed and developed to perform at the highest echelons of racing. It doesn’t hurt that a quick look at the machined contours of the arms shows that just as much care has gone into developing the appearance as has gone into ensuring the performance, and that’s a direct reflection of the mindset of the product designer, bill payer, and chief bottle washer at the company, Darrell Reid. But his path is not a traditional one.“Most of my serious design work is done at home, after hours,” he says.“But some of it is done here at the shop from 5 to 8 p.m. I’ll turn on Beethoven, Bach, or Tchaikovsky, and it starts to flow. As long as it keeps going, I’ve walked out of here at midnight. I don’t have a racecar, I don’t own a racecar. I started doing this because I have a passion for solving problems from a mechanical standpoint, and making things work. I really enjoy making stuff. When I got involved in this with Manton to begin with, I was like a kid in a candy shop. It’s challenged me from a mechanical and machining standpoint, from the perspective of making the part.”
In the left photo, we have Reid's 426 Fathead-style rocker system assembly, and on the right we have the 392 assembly typically used in nitro-style racing. Although the 426 engine came after the 392 in terms of development, Reid feels that the 392 actually offers a more robust design. If you notice, the mounting plate for the shafts has the head stud going though it from the very top, which offers rigidity in that area versus the scalloped area found on the 426-style rocker. The stud on the 392 design pulls tight all the way through the stand, and in fact Reid has seen 10,600 rpm on 90-percent nitro and it stays together quite well.Manufacturing rocker arms from scratch to withstand the levels of horsepower seen by cars like our very own BlownZ06 Corvette, which features a 3,000-plus-horsepower supercharged Hemi, and championship-winning engines which make far more power than ours—like NHRA Alcohol Funny Car—is no small engineering feat. We’d consider Darrell Reid an artist, evidenced by the precision machine paths seen on the surface of these rocker arms.Recently we had the opportunity to tour his small shop where the magic happens, as it’s just down the road from our California office, and were impressed with the serious jewelry which comes out of this four-person shop.