I did about 5 or 6 rolls on level 5 and got something like a 30% increase. It tops out at something like 440 or so. Meh, good enough. Ya have to look at the materials. Some lower level mod materials are sometimes harder to get than level 5. Plus, this is the 6th ship I've engineered, so you get used to where to find stuff.
This is my experience as well. Lvl 5 much easier