I finally go the fabrictaed Aluminum Vave Covers installed.

See pics at the bottom of the project update web page:

http://www.thedreyerfamily.com/69f250/projectupdate.htm


Here is the long, mostly sad story on these. For those of you tempted by theme on Ebay.


The bolt holes are only 1/4", and require 1/4" bolts. Your heads will have 5/16" threads. You will have to purchase 1/4x20 heli-coil inserts to make these work. You will need to chase the currrent threads with the heli-coil supplied tap. (My tap didn't clean out enough material to easily install the hel-coils. Once I got the threads chased out, I installed the heli coils. Note, once in stalled, these are a bear to remove, especially if you go as deep as needed.

Now the inserts are in place the for first time. The bolts provided were too long. These are a very specific style allen socket head style machine bolt. If you don't get the right head, it will not go into the valve cover as intened and would look wrong in my opinon. You probably won't find one at the local hardware or auto store. Anyway, I needed shorter bolts. I luckily did find 6 at the local Ace Hardware (my local store carries an exceotional amount of fasteners. 4" is the perfect length. That's 1/4" shorter than those provided. So, I was able to finally install the passneger side. I had to wait for mor bolts. They never got them, I went to American Bolt here in AUstin. They had what I needed.

You will also have to cut an opening in the valve coves if you want to install a breather, oil filler or PCV. You can cut this hole with a drill press and a bi-metal hole saw (guess I needed those anyway). Note, A 1 1/8" hole saw, will make more of a 1 1/4" hole. I made it work with some gasket sealer. There are no baffles on the inside of the cover. Order some baffled grommets from Summit or the like.

Now that I had the bolts figured out and the holes made. I had to jack/joist up one side of the motor to install the bolts if you have the larger brake booster.

I'm happy with the look. And the passenger side has been running for a whil, and appears to be sealing. But, this is by no means a typical valve cover install.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my novel.

 

Looks great!! Sorry to hear of all your troubles getting them to work. Hey how close do they come to the booster?

Barry

 

Looks good and you have provided great info to those thinking of using them. Thanks!

 

Hey those covers look cool! They sure do come close to the brake booster...How many inches of clearance do you have?

 

Good Looking covers there Greg!!! I saw those on ebay...

I just thought it would be alot of hassle putting then on?

Do they have drippers in them?

They do give your engine that custom RACE Look!!!

 

Looks good. One question. Why couldn't you just shorten the bolts that were supplied as too long?

 

You could probably do this, if you did a good job cutting the bolts and cleaning up the threads. The heli-coil insters aren't very long. You've got a small window to work with. I'm surprised mine actually grabbed threads enough to tighten down.

I also had to insall a piece of 3/4" heater hose around the bottom of the PCV to fit in to the baffled grommets. I don't remember other grommet sizes being available with baffles.

It's about an inch from the brake booster. A little ttricky to get the cover in place. make sure to have the bolt already in the valve cover if possible or you get to hoist/jack up that side of teh motor. I was already setup to do this, since I'm replacing the pump shaft.

ALso, warn others that the grommets are baffled. They my try to poor oil in there and get a surprise :-)