fabricated valve covers

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motorhead446

motorhead446

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I've been looking for fabricated valve covers for my 440. I see there are many out there but the prices are all over the place. Any recommendations? I use this car for street strip, mostly strip.
 
Make sure the Gasket flange is 3/16 or thicker. You do not want the fanges folded over thin aluminum like the cover. They are junk and why some are cheaper. Gasket flange should be a separate piece of aluminum welded on.
 
From what I've seen there is not much difference between $125 set and $250 set. It depends a bit on what look (finish) you want. Polished are more than natural - anodized more still. Look for weld and finish quality obviously. The biggest drawback I've seen with these covers is that the base is flat and does not "wrap or contain" the gaskets. A bit too much pressure and they'll pop out real easy. Given they are all flat based make sure the base is 1/4" thick - and flat. Regardless the dollar paid I would spend some time to make sure the bases are flat and level before putting them on. The other drawback I've seen is they all come with just two grommet holes. If you don't mind removing a breather or PCV valve to add oil no biggie but I welded a bung in mine for a screw in filler cap. Kind of hard to see in this pic but its at the front of the right side cover.



The other issue I ran into is clearance for the distributor (MSD in my case). I had to clearance the base on the left side cover a bit.
 
I'm with Thumper, My first set was around $400 and change with a screw oil fill bung.
I got a set from 440 Source and they are just as nice for about $170.No oil fill though.
 
I have fabricated valve covers also,but on my small block(about $100).I,m looking for new ones,as I want ones with both baffled holes at the front of the valve covers for evac.I know mine aren,t BB,but just something to think about when looking for new ones for your strip car.
 
pettybludart said:
I,m looking for new ones,as I want ones with both baffled holes at the front of the valve covers for evac.
Click to expand...

That is an issue with most all valve covers if you run evacs. You always have one in the rear where there is more oil to suck up. I run evacs on mine and in hindsight wish that I would have used the rear hole for oil fill and made a new one up front for a breather grommet.
 
The top half of a quart oil bottle with the cap threads ground off with a moto tool works perfect for putting oil in through the 1 inch vent cap grommet and makes it really easy to not spill oil on your covers at the same time.
The lip that the cap comes down to stops the bottle top from going in futher and getting restricted by the baffles.
 
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