Do You Own Big Block MP Valve Covers?? Please Read This ... and Share

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CudaChick1968

CudaChick1968

Leanna ~ The Mistress of Metal
FABO Vendor
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
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Location
Greenfield, Tennessee
Thank you dear. You're always lookin out for us. I for one appreciate it.
 
The MP ones are cast aluminum, right? I think so anyway, what would make the dog ears crack like that, so easily too?

I got big block Mopar valve covers, but heres the hitch, MINE are factory....'67 version, pressed steel, and in pretty good shape! The MP ones are the newest "replacements" for the old factory ones.....I like the factory look, so, don't see a need to replace mine, "Don't try to fix, whats not broken" and its true.....I get an issue, I'll look for decent factory replacements for the 383.....

Thanks Leanna, you look out for all of us!
 
If you "aerate" the casting metal and use only exacly enough material it saves money.
Quality inspection is a big problem also.
 
My customer with the cast aluminum valve covers that are the subject of this thread elected to have me continue with the job anyway. Here's how they turned out ...

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It was a serious job with a ton of metal work but I really couldn't be happier with how they turned out -- they were tough to box up today.

On the somewhat bright side, the guy with the polished MPs with the big chunks taken out of the dog ears had me return them to Classic Industries (on THEIR dime so someone's listening!!!). The Quality Control Supervisor searched through their entire inventory and couldn't find a single set that was any better so they refunded his purchase price. He also promised to "see what he could do about the quality problem personally." I hope he gets some results for all of us guys!! Instead of the polished MPs, I'll be customizing a pair of old Edelbrocks I've got here in the stash instead.

Billy noticed in just the latest Summit catalog that the prices of MP valve covers have gone DOWN across the board ($50 just on the polished ones!). Hmmmmmmmm ... very interesting ...

I'll keep ya'll posted if anything comes of this either way -- I sure hope it's in their customers' favor instead of Ma Mopar's like it seems to have been for awhile now.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I guess I'll ditch my MP covers for something else.

Those covers you did look awesome!
 
I just found this post.


It looks like they took shortcuts when casting the covers. Either **** metal or bad casting not filling all the way. Either way, someone should have caught this on the job and questioned it before it got out. Whether at the casting station or packing station.

There's a thing called "final inspection"... That is supposed to be to review the part for quality defects before packing and shipping. They obviously let this go.


Thanks for the heads up Leanna.
 
Cracks in those mp valve covers have been a common problem for years. Pure junk. Consider yourself lucky if you have a set that isn't cracked. :)
 
Leanna, those valve covers are gorgeous! With photos like that, you don't need any other advertising!
Richard
 
abodyjoe said:
Cracks in those mp valve covers have been a common problem for years. Pure junk. Consider yourself lucky if you have a set that isn't cracked. :)
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That's what's coming to light now Joe -- I was hoping it was just a recent development but some people are reporting broken / cracked ears going back to the early 2000s. The universal opinion is that everyone thought they'd just cranked them down too hard upon installation but the fact that these cracks appear in brand new parts tends to overshadow that assumption.


3rdLM23P9 said:
Leanna, those valve covers are gorgeous! With photos like that, you don't need any other advertising!
Richard
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Thank you Richard! Actually, I have NEVER formally advertised -- do you ever see PSC banner ads online or in magazines?? :-D -- and instead happily rely on my customers' word of mouth and random google searches. It's been more than enough to keep me beyond busy; there have been 15 or more jobs here at any given time for well over 5 years straight, and the last couple of years that number has steadily climbed to being closer to 25 all the time now. My turn around time is really lame ... I get the work done but it takes me awhile because of its custom nature.

Thanks for checking this thread out guys! Knowledge is power.
 
Beautiful work on those BB valve covers as always, Leanna. I've talked to some folks at our Inland Mopars Car Club's annual car shows that are looking for quality PC work and always steer them in your direction.
As a complement to your comment about Classic Industries ("On the somewhat bright side, the guy with the polished MPs with the big chunks taken out of the dog ears had me return them to Classic Industries (on THEIR dime so someone's listening!!!). The Quality Control Supervisor searched through their entire inventory and couldn't find a single set that was any better so they refunded his purchase price. He also promised to 'see what he could do about the quality problem personally.'"), here's my story about Classic Industries:
I recently purchased some '69 Dart tail light lens from Classic Industries. The order was placed over the phone and I drove down to Huntington Beach the next day to pick them up. I was pleasantly surprised when the order was pulled from inventory and brought to the sales counter. Instead of just calling me to the counter and handing me the box they were in, I watched the counter guy open both boxes and closely inspect them. He then disappeared back to their warehouse area for about ten minutes. When he finally returned he called me back to the counter and opened the boxes on a new set of lenses he'd brought with him. I asked if there was a problem with the first set and he showed me some tiny spider web cracks that were in the flanges of the lens around the screw holes. The new set he went back and personally got were primo.
Needless to say, the quality control exhibited by the counter sales guy blew me away. That's not something you're likely to find in many places in today's culture.
Classic Industries is going to get a lot of positive word-of-mouth advertising from me - and the 20% discount I got because of an email sale notice I received didn't hurt either.
 
In reference to FBBO pic #2: I can't help but wonder of that crack was a result of over tightening.
 
MoparDaddy said:
In reference to FBBO pic #2: I can't help but wonder of that crack was a result of over tightening.
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With all due respect, if you'd taken a few moments to actually READ MY POSTS you'd learn those parts were brand new and had never once been bolted onto anything.
 
CudaChick1968 said:
With all due respect, if you'd taken a few moments to actually READ MY POSTS you'd learn those parts were brand new and had never once been bolted onto anything.
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all well and good. I actually did read your post contrary to your assumption. Perhaps it's a glare from camera flash, but it appears to have the same markings that result from the rotation of a nut/bolt on the mounting ear. The object is obviously not in front of me which is why my comment was one of curiosity, which with all due respect does not warrant a snippy attitude as I meant no disrespect to anyone. So to avoid any sort of pissing contest, I'm going to walk away from the thread now.
 
It wasn't snippy (like one can tell an attitude over the internet lol), merely a more thorough explanation. See ya! :-D
 
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Those valve covers are SHARP! Great idea and excellent work. I'm curious to see the assembled motor.
 
Thanks Dana! I should have a few installation pics in a few days -- they're shipping out to the Chicago area this morning.

MoparDaddy and Joe, though I didn't share it with him, you both pretty much echoed my original thoughts a couple months ago when Dave, the guy with the black wrinkle / lime MPs, shared that he had cracked one of his dog ears upon installation. He insisted it was nothing he did but I'd figured he got a plug wire lodged under it or something and cranked it down anyway resulting in the split shown in the highlighted photo above.

When I got in two more BRAND NEW sets of those same valve covers (the subject of this thread) and noticed obvious defects in those same spots, I had to wonder if Dave's were hairlined too and I'd just missed it ... but this is my JOB and I don't miss much when it comes to metal that's right in front of me for an extended period of time. Those custom jobs don't happen overnight and there's a TON of metal work involved -- not too much gets past my Eagle Eye, lemme put it that way.

So then I wrote an alert post and put it out there for the Mopar Community to read on FaceBook, FBBO, here, etc. ... and more than SIXTY PEOPLE have since come forward with the same or an even more severe issue.

We're ALL motorheads. We've all been at this for awhile (at least most of us have), and those who haven't usually have some help from a more experienced person when it comes time to work on our beasties. In my opinion, there's no way that all of those motorheads with experience just "overtightened" those valve covers on exactly the same bolt resulting in exactly the same problem.

You be the judge.
 
I had an oil leak on my big block.Will check valve covers when I get home.And post findings.THANKS:eek:ops:
 
CudaChick1968 said:
I got a brand new set of the polished big block MPs in this morning for another customer. They're not any better ... :-(

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Straight out of the box from Ma Mopar via Classic Industries, there's no way that "over-tightening" did THAT (or any of the other defects captured in over 70 photos). On this set the hairline cracks were just polished over. :wack:
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OK, I make no claims to be a metallurgist or a machinist. Therefore, all I ask is: please do not laugh at this probably-stupid question. Could (gently) shot-peening them help by removing what I figure are stress riders from a crappy casting job? Also, to reduce stress on the mounting ears, am I right in thinking that you want the LEAST-compressible gaskets?

Note to self: make sure to stick with stamped-steel valve covers on all Mopars.

Edit...here's a scary thought: what would the new MP valve covers look like if someone were to Magnaflux one, I wonder?
 
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