ACID64

Can anyone tell me about these valve covers? They came with my 455 I just bought but I'm thinking they are for marine engines.

Vega

Theyre Mickey Thompsons and they're badass, 'nough said LOL
Valve covers are just a show piece really, like the air cleaner
But i love the way these MTs look and plan on running a pair just like this on my 455
That being said, you gonna be using those? haha

Oh also, whether theyre marine or not they should work just fine on any motor (i assume you mean 455)

ACID64

Hahah, yeah 455 my mistake. What are the little holes for and shouldn't there be some filter on them? Are these more for racing?

Vega

Not exactly sure about the holes, do they go straight through? or is there a plate behind them? (the plate should be a few centimeters down from the holes to provide air flow but not allow oil to spray out)

there really is no "racing" valve cover, theyre just pieces of metal that keep the oil inside the top of the head, but they are cool looking hotrod pieces. Most cars build for racing have custom valve covers made of sheet metal over the valve covers and theyre just completely solid for the most part. Theyre most likely hotrod pieces, like putting a chrome Edelbrock air cleaner on

Bill in NC

Those look pretty slick. Do they have a baffle underneath the holes?
2011-07-09115325.jpg

rocketraider

Never saw any drilled out like that, but looks purposeful. I doubt they'd pass muster on a marine engine because they'll let blowby vapor out thru the holes into the engine shrouding and create an explosive atmosphere.

I'd say they were made for a race engine or possibly for an engine with an intake mounted PCV valve such as W30-31 had.

ACID64

Yeah the drilled holes go straight through. I found what might be the breather for each cover in a box of parts that came with the motor. Maybe the breather is angled the wrong direction in these photos?

coppercutlass

angle goes up towards the top of the m/t and those are very slick pieces i regret giving my dad mine for stamped steel ones . This was when i was stuck in my sleeper phase where i had to hide everything lol. Those usually sell in the range from 100 to 175 in good shape

Vega

Thats a funky lookin breather haha, still cool valve covers though

coppercutlass

yeah those breathers are actually still made by edelbrock and moon i believe. just a nice touch of the gasser era

ACID64

Yeah the chrome breathers need a good cleaning. Never seen any covers with breathers like this before.

coppercutlass

yeah probably added by who ever bought them . when i bought mine they still had the knockouts in em where the breathers would go . im going out on a whimb here to say when they casted these they left that flat spot in that section for that style breather so the buyer would have the option of running diffrent breathers or no breathers .

Vega

Should take the top plate on them and paint it black, then take a grinder and grind the paint of the very top of the ridges so it matches the valve cover's color scheme. This is what my friend did on his 72' Chevelle. He had similar M/T valve covers on his 454 and they were starting to look worn out so he repainted them and grinded the tops back to that steel/chrome look. When i saw them i thought he had just bought new ones haha

coppercutlass

nice tip to know if you re paint them dont tape them off paint them completely then buff the fins out. i painted mine olds gold for my sbo cleared them the sanded with 1000 grit the fins and buffed them . you can use a grinder for that cool engine turn look

ACID64

I like that idea, definitely will try that out.