The pistons in my 440 set about .160 in the hole and im runnin the .509/292 cam. If I upgraded my rocker arms to 1.6 would that help or hurt considering its a low compression engine?

 

I don't think you will notice too much difference.... You have plenty of clearance before interference.... But to make it all work better, You need to add some compression to the poor motor....

 

440 -

IIRC that purple shaft isn't known for it's manors (read vacuum/idle).
Increasing the lift about 30/1000" and the duration a few degrees might make more power, but it might be less well behaved.

Do you know what the real compression ratio is?

Archer

 

The rocker arms would lower the compression, not enough to notice But with maybe 8/1 compression or less you need a different cam.
OR keep the 509 cam and change to a closed chamber head
OR replace the pistons