CRUCIAL INFO for Mopar Magnum Valve Cover Owners!!!

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CudaChick1968

CudaChick1968

Leanna ~ The Mistress of Metal
FABO Vendor
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
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Location
Greenfield, Tennessee
Through a total fluke today, I made an important discovery everybody who owns a set of these valve covers needs to be aware of.

On the inside of the valve covers underneath the breather / oil cap openings are baffle plates held on with three small screws. On the set I'm finishing up today, I had some powder overspray I wanted to get rid of so I started to remove the baffle plates to blast them clean. Of the twelve screws holding the four baffle plates on, SEVEN were not even finger tight!!!

Imagine one of these puppies getting stuck in a valve ... or worse.

View attachment 59750

Kindly excuse the dirty hand ... I was working. LOL! :-D

View attachment 59751

PLEASE check your Mopar Magnum valve covers for loose baffle plate screws! Every set of these that show up at my shop from now on will have the screws removed and Loctited back in place.

I telephoned my customer with the only other set of these I've done to date to let him know too. He said he's seen them on other LA engine aftermarket covers as well. Scary stuff!!!

(Ken, I'm sorry to show your valve covers to the gang a bit prematurely but felt this was important enough that it had to be addressed now. I'm going to be sending you a PM with a link to this thread.)
 
I do lock tight them. A little bottle goes a long way here.
 
dirty hand ?? Thats clean !! Hey thanks for this information. I know a few guys who run these covers that I will pass that info. on to. those covers in the pic looks fantastic too !!

-RPM
 
Wow! You call that hand dirty, lol!

Great catch Leanna and those valve covers look great!
 
Good catch. things like that are nice to know and can save a lot of time and money later on. Covers look very nice.
 
those are installed by the purchaser not the factory so that would be owner neglicence. maybe forgot to tighten them.
 
Thanks a bunch. I am purchasing my valve covers soon and will definitely look at them now!
 

Leanna -
My valve covers look GREAT. Thanks for letting them be part of your 'public service message'!!! I'm just glad you were able to spread the word to others who may not check such things.
Thanks too to all of you who like the looks and the color. They're gonna look great on my new 360 in my '69 Dart. That color is really gonna 'POP' against the Viper Red.
Oh by the way Daredevil, I forwarded my new valve covers straight to Leanna in the same box and packaging they were received in. They were never installed on the engine so, NO, it wasn't owner negligence.
 
sorry my bad,mine came in a package to use if needed.I thought yours would be the same. please accept my apology.
 
Most install these covers without the baffles. To me they are useless. Too many small parts hangin' above the valvetrain. Glad you caught the problem before you installed them.
 
Good catch! I can't imagine how many valvetrains were buggered in the past by loose hardware in there.
 
daredevil said:
sorry my bad,mine came in a package to use if needed.I thought yours would be the same. please accept my apology.
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I should have mentioned before that these covers were brand new and looked that way when I took them out of the box from ocdart. Factory packing and plastic wrap. Typical sand casting (but a lot of residue, metal polish and even some loose grit).

But your post gets me thinking DareDevil. It struck me funny earlier that not only were the screws untightened, the plates were installed upside down to where the baffles would keep oil near the oil cap or breather rather than guiding it back to the valves. Ken, maybe you really didn't buy new valve covers. At least they look better now LOL. You should have them by mid-next week.

Thanks for all the kind words guys! Real "after" (rather than "during") pics will be posted at some point in the future.
 
The baffles are there to keep oil from splashing into the breather caps and onto the pcv valve.. And great job with the covers. Mine are coming off this Saturday and I'll get them cleaned on Wednesday. Hopefully I can get them sent to you then for that wrinkle finish that you do so well. toolmanmike
 
I started working on the next job today, a set of fairly new Mopar Performance valve covers for a non-FABO guy in South Carolina. I found the same, lame, loose baffle screws on them too.

After further thought and input (thanks Eric), I'm NOT going to automatically reinstall the baffle plates and screws with Loctite. I feel it shouldn't be my decision to basically force my customers to use the baffle plates; instead, they will be returned to customers loose in a baggie with instructions to use blue or red Loctite thread sealer if they decide to install them.
 
toolmanmike said:
The baffles are there to keep oil from splashing into the breather caps and onto the pcv valve.. And great job with the covers. Mine are coming off this Saturday and I'll get them cleaned on Wednesday. Hopefully I can get them sent to you then for that wrinkle finish that you do so well. toolmanmike
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I'll be looking forward to it Mike! Thank you in advance for the opportunity to earn your business! I hope to not only fulfill -- but exceed -- your expectations. :-D
 
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