[Walt Fricke]

Thanks for steering me away from the quick and dirty - Kasenit - for this application. The rockers are cast (mine are, anyway, and I don't think I'll be switching to the forged ones, even assuming I could find some).

Looks like the options (leaving aside the issue of cam compatibility) are DLC or cryo/ion nitride. Or leave them alone.

I have a bunch of rockers I hope to have resurfaced - I just checked their bushings with a new rocker shaft, and compared with a new rocker the shaft did not wiggle noticeably more despite the fact that it was easy to see where the wear was on the bushings - nice cross hatching up top and sides, smooth on bottom. (I also have a whole set of rockers with good faces, but which had a lot more wiggle - these will teach me how to rebush).

I think I have a friend who used roller rockers on a 914. He moaned a bit about it - over engineering or something kept him from getting the engine running in a timely manner, or innovation caused problems that had the same result.

But is there an OHC engine that uses rollers on the cam lobe? The pushrod engines use the roller on the valve. Though they also can use them on the tappets, so I guess a roller is not inherently incompatible with following a cam lobe.

Would there be anything worth the effort to be gained by replacing the elephant foot with a roller? I don't see significant wear on either foot or stem. Certainly not pitting, as on the cam and rocker faces.

To be really worth while, I'd think you'd need significantly less friction, or less weight, or both.

But maybe just longer lasting parts would be worth the expense. That was all I was looking for.

Walt