Hot Rods Home made valve covers

Just thinking about trying to do something different with SBC covers. Not just go out and buy something? Any of you guys modified your valve covers? And i don't mean paint between the fins. I guess breathers would be ok if they are truly off the wall. Just wondering with to much time on my hands.

 

I like the look of the olds rocket valve cover meshed with the sbc valve cover

 

I like the idea of disguising the small block Chevy engines. Wild in a "Wild Cat" logo and paint it Blue.

 

What about a clear see through set of valve covers. I saw a set somewhere, not even sure if they were designed to be on a working engine or not.

 

It appears that Classic Industries sells a set of clear covers designed to be used on a SBC. I kinda like those.

 

I always wondered why there wasn't a set of covers made with longer fins or more fins to enable better heat dissipation. Something made more like a heat sink.

 

Okay, not "homemade" but "off the wall"........
(I like the breather in the middle idea on SBC v/c, too. It looks more 'hot roddy".)



It's a good thing that they made the fins mirror opposites to balance........
so the wind doesn't spin you around if you go too fast.

 

Reinventing the wheel are ya!

 

I think welding in or stamping a name in the covers is a cool idea on the right vehicle. One of the guys on here made "PLYMOUTH" hemi valve covers that were righteous! On a 57 Chevy, a cover that had a script "Bel Air" stamped in it would be pretty cool. Or if you had a fake blower and blocked off carbs they could say "POSER" in block letters. Gold "Crown Royal" embossed valve covers on a purple SBC? Tasty! Is it after 12:00?

 

Made some fins on stock tin covers with 4 "U" channels welded to top;looked like 8 fins.
But later got some real alum Thunderbird covers.
One guy in our old car club had a OHV 6 cyl,he put 6 draw pulls on top,after painting,looked like vents.
They were this type.


https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hickory...r-Stainless-Steel-Cup-Pull-P3055-SS/100674665
I've seen a few that look good,with a chrome name off of a fender added to top of covers.

 

I got a lot of flak for suggesting you could build up any shape you want in fibreglass and bondo and paint it, embed aluminum fins or an emblem or what you like. I still don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

Ive always wanted to take, say an Edlebrook or M/T and mill all the tops off and polish away.

 

Here is the ultimate valve cover fake out. Small block Chev.

 

Take a steel valve cover, turn it over and beat it with a ball peen hammer. Weld a piece of an old pushrod sticking through. Install and think up a good story.

 

How do I get that vomit taste outta my mouth now?

 

Even the General got in on this deal!

Way back, "Eh"


A few years later.
Gmc V-6



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/making-unique-valve-covers-ideas.971693/

 

Yeah I have seen the Canadian "Pontiac covers". Saw them in here. Like i said, rainy Sunday . Just trying to keep my mind off this damn Virus.

 

I have been thinking about mounting some Chevy tin covers on a 324 Olds I am building.

 

That would be......different, traditional

 

I had a set of finned aluminum cover that had "Powered By Ford", on a Chevy 350 in my 37 Ford coupe, made a lot of people do a double take, also pissed off some people.

 

Myself, I have never cared for most disguised engines. The more knowledgeable builders can usually tell it's a fake and the others usually don't know what they are looking at anyway. I do think it's fine to try to create a nostalgic look on a newer motor. In that vein I plan to adapt some early style sixties Cad valve covers to a 500 Cad just because I like the square ends better than the rounded ends........but it's still a Cad. Not trying to pi** anyone off, just that most of the time they just don't look right to me

 

A friend has a Jaguar V12 ( home built intake with 2x4s amongst other mods)in his T roadster and stuck some small blue oval badges on the cam covers, gets a lot of head scratching going on when the yarn comes out about Fords development engine.

 

30 years ago Speedway sold a "kit" that was a pair of adaptors that fit over SBC heads so you could run Hemi valve covers.It was pricy too.

 

What was it that P.T.Barnum said?

 

I think the biggest issue with making a set of valve covers would be machining the flanges. It is a gasket sealing surface after all, so you'd need to get the surface true otherwise your experiment is a failure. As far as "doing something different", what else is there to do? The covers close the top of the engine up and add no performance benefit. . Trying to disguise the engine as another kind of engine is lame. Outside of that, you'd be reinventing the wheel with no appreciable improvement in performance, and depending on level of craftsmanship, no improvement in style either.

 

Well said.

 

I can see it now. Someone cutting out the top of a Ford valve cover and welding it in to the top of a chevy one. Just so they don't have to listen to me. Well it won't work. I know the difference between that and a Y Block.

 

I don't know about this. I have seen several guys who were great welders and metal fabricators just try to add metal to make a deeper oil pan, and they all leak sooner or later.

 

You could buy some of those cheap plain unmarked valve covers and take them to one of those hydrographics places and have them coated in just about any design you can imagine.

 

I think creating a valve cover that appears to coincide with the motor but might look like some rare original would look much better. A cast aluminum Chevy cover with Jenkins or Yunick emblazoned on top, A Ford with Holman/Moody, Nicholson, Glidden or a Hemi with Garlits on it..............Now that would look good and still start a lot of conversations