anyone got a pic of them or can explain what exactly the difference is, and why u cant use guideplates with SA. my friend has some rockers but im not sure if theyre SA or NSA and he cant remember either.lol

 

Self Aligninng RRs have a little disk-type washer on both sides of the roller which are intended to keep the roller on the valve tips. The non-self aligning RRs do not have these and rely on the guide plates to keep the push rods aligned with the rrs and the rrs aligned with the valve tips.

It is not advisable to use guide plates with SA RRs because you have the guide plates fighting against the disks on the SA rr disks---i.e you have one system working against the other.

So if he has guide plates, I assume that he does not have self Aligning RRS.