Valve covers

Has anyone ever had or made valve covers made of sheet copper.

 

Nobody?

 

Haven’t done it, but it should not be real difficult, copper tig welds pretty nicely.


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Here are some folks who also thought about it.
http://www.turbobullet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14918

 

You might try silicon bronze.
It welds perfectly.

 

But why use that when you can use copper?


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Copper would be a great look for valve covers...and totally unique! The one problem I can think of is that it can bend easily and might warp where the cover mates to the head, resulting in oil leakage. But there are probably some alloys that would work. How about copper plating? Brass might be more stable and would be an interesting choice.

 

Plating is a very real option. Copper is one of the steps to chrome, so any plater should be able to do it at your request.

Roger

 

Heavy copper plating is a good idea. It will will pretty quickly so some sort of lacquer would be needed

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Could you not send your valve covers to a chrome shop and copper plate and skip the nickle & chrome? HRP

 

I had some Harley motor parts copper coated at a chrome shop. Immediately took them to a powder coater who was waiting for them, had them clear powder coated. That was probably over a decade ago, still holding up.

 

,,,,forgot. I got a picture of a car (OT?) the dude made a solid copper hood for it. Looks great (to me) I tried to make a Harley gas tank once. Couldn't get the shape right and kept chasing dents/low places. Gave up.

 

I thought of plating but I love the idea of making them from scratch. Covers breathers plumbing and exhaust I think would look wild and set it apart from most others.

 

I also like the look of partially tarnished copper. Not green but not glistening either.
Andrew

 

I've had good luck fabricating silicon bronze.
Its more rigid than most copper and I find it much easier to TIG weld.

 

I agree easy to weld with, I’ve used stripped romex wire to weld copper range hoods with.


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