Problem with Harland Sharp rockers

I wish I had one of these rockers to show what the bottom was cut like. True, and rocker "could" do it, but the way these were made, they would open the valve using the retainer long before a stock rocker would. The bottom was cut in a circle so it was form fit around the retainer. The engine builder didn't do that. It wasn't operator error. It's the way the rockers were made.

The design sucked. As delivered their operation sucked. The guy running them weren't no amateur. Just a driveline engineer for Chrysler. But I'm sure you're right. It was his fault these rockers were made the way they were and destined to torch a motor that had already been run with them.

IF the failure had happened the first time the motor was fired I could believe your theory about wrong retainers etc. But it had been run before so that theory don't hold water