Roller Rockers in Stock

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lee

Then NHRA needs to have the roller rocker defined with NHRA approved parts. Just like they have now. No custom made rockers. And the rockers need to be approved parts that have not been modified. Just like NHRA approved pistons. And rockers are easy to tech. Easier than pistons.

Look, anybody that is hell bent on finding that extra .001 to .01 is going to find it. Legally or not. That same guy that is the fastest in his class with stock rockers is most likely going to be the fastest in the class with roller rockers.
I'm just encouraging something that will make it less costly & less maintenance for the rest. And if one is happy with their OEM rockers, keep them.

With CNC machinery, you can make an aluminum roller rocker that looks just like any other aluminum roller rocker, including an "approved" rocker, modify the geometry, mark it and anodize it to look like the approved part, and the only way to find it is not the approved part is with a fixture made to check that specific approved part.

With CNC equipment as common as it now is, it is not even expensive to make the cheated up rockers. The rest of the parts are commonly available.

What do you think the chances of NHRA making or buying checking fixtures for 2 dozen different rocker arms and taking them to every event is? Or the idea that they're going to procure 7 copies of each approved part and haul them around to every race?

The idea that "you can keep your stock style rocker if you want to" doesn't hold a drop of water, not if you want to remain competitive. If the roller rocker raises the operating range of your competition, you have to run that RPM just like he does if you don't want to get beat.

People going fast are not just going to bolt on a set of roller rocker arms and call it a day. This is not "one part, that solves breakage for some people". Rocker arms are one part of a complete valvetrain package. Change rocker arms, and you change camshafts and other parts to go along with the rockers, unless you want to get left behind.

The fast guys will completely reevaluate their cams, springs, valve job, valves, and pushrods, in order to take advantage of the change. So instead of changing a set of rockers at the cost of $300 or so, you're now looking at a new cam, $200 and up, a new valve job that may cost you $1000, new valves that could cost $500, and new springs for $300. Your new roller rockers just went from $300 to at least $2300 if you want to stay competitive.

Yes, roller rocker arms are going to save you money. So long as you just change rocker arms, and you don't care about making the rest of the valvetrain work with them to remain competitive.