How much is the roller tip REALLY worth?

Sar2K got me thinking with his 1.7 rockers, car is running good and those dont have roller tips. Is a well ddesigned rocker tip (non-roller) just as good as a roller then? Seems liek he non roller 1.71 makes more power than the roller 1.6. SO is frictional loss not that much once you get away the stock rocker arm tip.

if made of the right material and lubricated well they are fine. they still loose a little to friction though

You will pick up power over stock with any thing you put on that is more acurate. Factory rockers can be any where from 1.45 to 1.55 in ratio. just getting the ratio the same on all cylinders makes a fair differance in the way the motor runs. In the late 80s to get more power out of smaller motors GM started using roller tip rockers.

The biggest gain is from more lift ;) It is like putting in a bigger cam shaft ;)

Frictional loss at the tip is insignificant with a low lift cam. The gain from RR's really comes from the roller fulcrum (greatest point of friction), increased ratio, and as mentioned increased uniformity in lift among the cylinders. Even with a high lift cam I really don't believe the friction loss at the tip is great.
I'll discuss this one at work tomorrow with one of the engineers I work under... guy used to be an engineer at Pontiac way back, pretty sharp.
Steve...