Gooner

How do I tell which valve covers I have on my 455? I see stock height and tall covers listed for sale, but am unsure which one I need. Is there a measurement I can take to tell which I currently have, or is it glaringly obvious?

Thanks!

442Harv

Factory only made one size. The tall ones you see are aftermarket , for bigger rocker set up. If you have stock valve system, regular factory are fine.

442Harv

Also if you use the taller one, some of the brackets won't fit.

Schurkey

Tall valve covers are for clearance to a stud girdle. No stud girdle, no need for tall covers. Olds doesn't often use stud girdles, since there's no studs in stock form.

Some folks think tall covers are for roller rocker clearance, but that's not right. The rockers clear just fine. The tall poly-locks may not, but a person can modify the baffle in the OEM covers to suit. Maybe you need double valve cover gaskets, but not tall covers.

Gooner

Thanks all! I appear to have generic stock height chrome crappy aftermarket covers so I am going to stick with that height. Another question... if I remove a couple of the top bolts to mount a spark plug wire routing bracket... can I just tighten back down after? Any issue with that and not removing the whole cover and using a new gasket?

Schurkey

If the gasket isn't defective, you should be fine.

Gooner

Thanks! I was hoping I could avoid a valve cover gasket replacement. Removing the passenger side cover SUCKS because of the giant AC/heat equipment.