Technical Corvette valve covers: The current state of the molds.

I needed a set of straight bolt 7 fin Corvette valve covers for a project. I had a couple options, I could hunt up a set of pre-67 used ones without the casting flaw through the "o", or I could get a pair of new ones and clean them up. Since this deal was going to involve polishing them and adding a pair of breathers to each valve cover, I decided that rather than butcher a pair of nice originals, it made more sense to buy new ones and clean them up. I was in for a surprise when I took them out of the box.


This is not a problem for me, as I plan to polish them anyway, and I only paid $130 for these, which is pretty cheap. But two things sprang to mind. 1) if anyone is planning to buy a set of new valve covers and use them more or less as is, think again, and probably more important 2) this mold is on its last legs, and my guess is, chevy isn't gonna spend any money on it, so if you are planning on getting a new set of 7 fins, you should probably do it soon. I have been thinking about maybe also getting a set for my O/T S10, I think I am going to do that now, I have a feeling these might not be around much longer.

 

Do you buy these directly from Chevrolet?

 

Wow, those make my originals look like something from Tiffany's.

 

YUCK!!!!

 

I bought them off a corvette vendor, but they have all the Lester markings inside, I don't think they are knock-offs.

 

As long as you are polishing them, or cleaning them up and painting them, they will be fine, but if you expect to pull them out of the box, wash them and use them, well...

 

Holy crap! That's bad.

 

Those look like 10 miles of bad road!
I always get shit like from Florida, the vendor knows they are going far, far away and send the worst they have knowing it won't be returned in person or thrown threw their large office window ...............................

 

Looks like casting cracks.

 

Those look like shit!

 

Yes, Heatchecking from a lot of die-thermal cycles.....And that is pretty bad!

 

I bought the same covers as you and they cleaned up nice enough for average standards....

 

How many hour's will it take to make them look good?
I'd like an original set

 

I ran a set on the Fordor and I thought they came out great!

Then again, I'm a poser so what do I know.

 

I bought a single valve cover from Paragon about a year ago to make a set with an original and it looked nothing like that. Other than the fact the new one was a lot less "parina'd" it looked great. I'm guessing there are a lot of offshore suppliers that have made their own molds. I think you just ended up getting one from a crappy manufacturer. I'd send them back and order a pair from Paragon. I think the valve covers are $60-$65 a piece. Just my $.02.

Edit..... just checked and they're $79. They do go on sale occasionally for around $65. I think that's when I bought mine.

 

I bought an original set back in 1978. They were in un-opened original GM boxes, and they looked exactly like yours. I hadn't intended to polish them, but they looked so rough that I did polish'em. I still have them, although they're pretty much wall hangers now since I've cracked each of them at one hole from overtightening. Those babies are really thin. I TIG welded the crack and metal finished it, but the valve covers won't accomodate roller rockers, so I'm using 'em as garage art.

 

I have less than an hour into one of them, its cleaning up fine, as I expected. but yes, I took them out of the box, I was kinda surprised.

 

These will work fine for me, like I said, I intended to polish them and add breathers from the start, the big chunks that look so bad are gone after the first pass with the 320 grit. I'll post a pic once I have them done.
I was just shocked at how rough they were when I took them out of the box. Like I said, these have all the Lester marks and the GM part no. inside them.
I have bought some other stuff from Paragon, from what I read on their website, the Paragon ones are cleaned up and re-worked, and better than the ones that are pulled straight from the 60 yr old GM molds. If I had needed a set that looked original, I would have ordered the Paragons.

Aluminum Valve Cover - w/ 283 & 327


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Paragon Number: 2613K
GM Part Number: 3767493
Aluminum valve cover, w/283 and 327, includes (1) valve cover & gasket. Straight bolt pattern and “Corvette” script, 7 fins. Fits L1959 w/heads # 3767465. These are refinished valve covers manufactured off the O.E.M. tooling licensed to Paragon. The casting flaw which passes through the “o” in “Corvette” has been removed in this process. If you require NCRS quality ask for a tech person before ordering. These valve covers do not have a high gloss finish.

Years: L1959 - L1966
Condition: New
Packaging: Kit
Type: Stock






Price: $145.00

 

I sorta feel your pain George. I have an old pair hanging in my shop but they are polished. Swap meet prices are ridiculous these days so for my recent '56 Chevy upgrade I bought a set of new ones like you did and I too was surprised how rough they are. I just washed 'em, rubbed them down with a rag and WD40 and put 'em on - they look just fine.
Years ago I put a new set on my roadster. They were sorta rough so I sanded off the bad stuff, sandblasted them and soaked them with WD40. They darkened little by little over time and I had some folks coming up and asking where I got the magnesium versions!?!
IMHO, even with the warts, they are one of the best looking valve covers ever made.

 

I am used to working with some raggedy assed stuff, but I did do a double take when I saw these, just figured I would give guys a heads up. They are polishing up fine, once I get them all polished and painted between the fins and breathers on them, Ill post a pic. Maybe I will post a pic of them on the engine. "Laguna leakers" as our old dad used to say...

 

These ones are getting the classic '60s polish and paint, but I'd like to get another set for my O/T ride and do this.

Dammit George, focus, FOCUS!

 

They are about the nicest I've seen. How was that done?

 

George, when you are done please explain your process that you did to get them cleaned up.

 

I bought a pair of freshly polished ones in GM boxes many years ago at the Eugene swap meet and I was kind of "unwashed" regarding the matching numbers thing at the time.
An old friend of mine was deep into the Corvette NCRS deal so I had him take a look at them and he says who F'd those rare early valve covers by polishing them, they looked like they were brand new when they were polished and I thought they were perfect.
So I asked him what he meant and he pointed out they were the original run that didn't have that line through the "O".
I told him I paid $100 for them (truth) and he said it wasn't a bad price but if they hadn't been polished they'd be worth three times that, who knew.

 

I have a set of decent (not perfect, but pretty nice) staggered bolt '56/'57 nine fins I am polishing, the vette restorers would go SPASTIC.

They aren't mine, but I think he painted them with a cast iron paint. They look damn good, don't they?

 

Hoover, the vacuum cleaner folks cast some of them in the past. I have or had a set around here.

 

I just spent about 20 minutes in front of the boobtube with my daughter and a half round jewelers file and some 220 grit, was watching tv and just kind of puttering, I have the two areas outlined in yellow pretty much cleaned up so that you could either paint it or bead blast it, and no-one would know. Since I am painting the area between the fins, and I am a picky bastard, I will probably take that whole area to 400 grit, but that should give you an idea. If you focused on it, I would figure about 4 hours and you would have both of them cleaned up to a 400 grit finish.

 

I installed a set from Paragon a while back for a guy and they were nice. Just picked up a mint orig set from my neighbors 62 340HP Vette he sold many years ago. That car was a 40,000 miles NCRS survivor with an extra set in the trunk. Who knows why??--were hanging on his wall for the past 25 years. May go on the next 40.