Thinking about casting some valve covers...

[feadam]

Thanks Drew

[Drew Pojedinec]

Those are super cool Jay.
They look like my BT covers: (which I love)

[FElony]

Jay, have you plopped the protos on a shock tower car to see if the raised bolt bosses present an interference or access problem?

[jayb]

I've test fit the 3D printed prototype on my 68 Mustang and it clears with no issues; I haven't test fit it on my 69 Torino, but it looks about the same for the bolt boss clearance.  But with the power brake booster on that car I don't think the valve cover itself would fit...

[2ndgear]

Hear is another thought. The breathers on the covers could be a little tight on the shock tower cars wear the tower brace goes to the fire wall. Be care full wear the breather is located so you could swap cover from side to side. Ask me how I know.

[Joey120373]

Those look awesome Jay, wondering if there is enough room on the bottom side of the top to add extra thickness in specific places to allow a guy to drill and tap some holes? I'm thinking it would be cool to be able to directly mount a set of LS style coil packs on the valve covers like GM does. But it could also be useful for all kinds of things, and wouldn't change how they look from the outside.

[jayb]

There is a fair amount of thickness all across the top, close to 3/8" and over 1/2" where the breathers go.  I think you could drill and tap mounting holes there no problem...

[turbohunter]

Those look awesome Jay, wondering if there is enough room on the bottom side of the top to add extra thickness in specific places to allow a guy to drill and tap some holes? I'm thinking it would be cool to be able to directly mount a set of LS style coil packs on the valve covers like GM does. But it could also be useful for all kinds of things, and wouldn't change how they look from the outside.

Jay do you still make those coil mounts that you used on the Mach?

[jayb]

I do, in fact I'm going to crank out a set for my new dyno mule.  I'll be starting a thread about that engine in a few days...

[cjshaker]

First, I like that this is coming to fruition. Second, I love the extended bolt hole design (no more lost bolts down the frame rail areas or on the headers!).

But I'm going to say loudly, a removable top would be an outstanding idea! Not just clear, for looks, but having a solid aluminum top would be fantastic for quick checking for any excessively loose valve lash, without pulling the entire cover, which requires pulling the tower brace on shock tower cars when combined with this style cover. Having a removable top as an option is an even better idea, not everyone wants a 'modern' look to their parts, and a solid top still retains that old-school look. I think that's a great call on having both as an option.

But that also leads to the down side of this style; they are not shock tower friendly when changing plugs. I've always found it easier to just remove the entire valve cover when changing plugs, and that's easy to do with the CJ style even with a tower brace. Not so much with these, at least at the rear around the brake reservoir.  Just goes to show that you can't kill all the birds with one stone

As for the smaller breather hole, I'm pretty sure we all own funnels, so I don't see that as an issue at all unless 1 1/4" is too small to pull a good vacuum on a vacuum system.

[rowdy58ford]

Jay I seen a cool ideal on FE form on the autolight inline carbs there air cleaner has a clear view tops with the groves machined in them,  2x4 w-bird clear top would be cool maybe the bottom clear to see the carbs? Greg

[Yellow Truck]

By the way, I would hope to put enough meat in the rear area of the valve cover to be able to machine them to fit under any brake booster.  Do you have a picture of your clearance at the back of the valve cover?  I have a Mustang and a Torino here for clearance measurements, but not a pickup...

I suspect that this is a dead letter, but I said I'd get you a snap when I pulled it out of storage. Finally got it today. As you can see, part of the problem is the location of the PCV breather.



Close up:

[cjshaker]

Since Jay is offering the possibility of 2 holes in each cover, i'd think he could drill one hole so that they're both in front? You'd have side specific covers that way, but that's nothing big. It'd be easy to plumb the PCV through the front or even the side of the spacer.

I have the same problem with the breather on my '70 truck and was thinking about this just today.

[jayb]

Yes, I can program those holes in either location, so that both could be at the front of the engine with a certain set of the valve covers.  There are a lot of options here; I can see the list of part numbers growing LOL! 

[Yellow Truck]

I would have liked to have another option back when I bought these - you probably recognize them, but I think the were by Anson. They sat on a shelf for 5 years before I built the new engine. They work better than the tin ones I had, but I don't like fact that I had to move the baffles closer to the holes to make more clearance for the rocker assembly. It makes oil changes tedious.

Having said that, for the next while I'll be spending my little Canadian dollars on things like a new alternator, an Eaton Truetrac, and maybe an upgrade to front disk brakes.

Putting an MSD distributor and MSD 6 box on it and pulling some new wires today.