OK, this one has me scratching my head.

I saw the engine in the photos at Fall Carlisle. It's a 1972 350 2bbl with 7A heads. Obviously it has notched valve covers. I spent a fair amount of time looking closely at it. The covers APPEAR to have only a single coat of factory-applied gold (runs and all). The engine APPEARS to never have been apart - who would hotrod a 2bbl motor, anyway. There is enough rust and grease to make me think that these covers could have been born on this motor, but as I always like to say, a lot can happen in 40+ years.

Anyone ever seen anything like this before?

 

Yeah, I've seen a 350-2bbl before

:-)

 

It's always better to be a smart-@$$ than a dumb-@$$...

 

Hey, at least the notches are to the rear.

 

ANOTHER reason why they look factory-installed.

I just recently saw yet another high dollar 442 restoration with the notches forward...

 

My guess is they were laying in the parts rack, engine came down the line ready for valve covers, and they got put on. Corollary is there's probably a 455 that got the ones this engine should have had and they wondered why the hell it kept beating the heater box and brake booster.

I have learned never say never when it comes to weird stuff the factory may have done.

 

I had a 72 Cutlass with a 350 2bbl parts car that had them. I assumed that it had been apart at some point but there was zero signs of it. Also gold paint with no blue under them. I remember thinking that whoever done it done good work because I could not tell it was ever apart. It never crossed my mind that they may have been there from the factory. Now I am wondering...
It is the gold set in this pic.

 

I just came up with this theory. They did not need the notched valve covers for '73 due to the body change over & they had left over boxes of notched valve covers & were told to use them up versus scrap them?? Also, didn't the '73 cars have the embossed OLDSMOBILE letters in the valve covers or did they come later?

 

Scott, the embossed OLDSMOBILE VCs were 73/74 production only. 350 or 455 obviously. I had 2 sets of those that I sold to other members; they seem to be popular items.

I'm inclined to think the engine Joe found has been modified. 30+ years of use and grime can make almost anything look like original grime IMO.

 

Joe, the heads are on upside down.

 

Working in an auto factory, I can tell you that the idea that THIS engine has THAT part, therefore THAT engine has THIS part is bogus. While it is quite possible that that small block got big block covers because they would work, no big block got the corresponding small block covers because of it. Parts don't work that way in this scope. If the small block covers were late from conveyance to the final engine line, then some big block ones got used to keep the line going, which may have been permissible. Eventually, the discrepancy would have been on the books, but the extra small block valve covers would have been scrapped, not put on big blocks to even it out.

Carryover parts to remove excess inventory is also a possible solution.

 

Like Koda said, it was probably just a shortage on the line. Or maybe it was the first day on the job for a new worker. Or maybe this engine was assembled by a front office worker during the UAW strike.

 

Interesting find

 

Ok, seriously here is a theory.

When I was in product design, we would often use inserts on our injection molds. Ie Same basic part going to two different countries but different molded in logos. Insert was swapped out depending on what version you were running and it save the cost of building two full sets of tools.

I've never gotten involved with stamping dies, but if they could , would they have used the same basic die set for notched and unotched covers?

Swap in and swap out the insert to make it flat or not?

 

Interesting theory, but I think there were way more typical VCs made than notched so I'd be inclined to think there were separate dies. Same as for the embossed OLDSMOBILE covers.

 

What's the daily output of a set of stamping dies vs the daily output of an assembly line?

I bet the stamping die way outpaced the assembly and they didnt many sets at all. Maybe even one set.

Dave B, any insight?

 

My car has these exact same valve covers with exactly the same finish. Its a 72 2bbl 350..

 

The fact that these have only appeared on 1972 SBOs reinforces the theory that it was simply Olds "using up stock" at the end of the model year. That's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it.

 

I have nothing to add about the valve covers, as the "using them up" and the "none of the others available at this moment" theories both sound good.

What I will say is this: $380 for that boat anchor?!? Holy *&%^!

- Eric

 

Actually, it was $300, and that was the price on Wed afternoon. By Sat afternoon it was marked SOLD.

 

And I guess I'm getting OLD.

- Eric

 

That's true no matter WHAT that engine sold for (and I'm guessing it was somewhat less than $300). I went back on Sat to try to buy the valve covers alone.

 

Speak for yourself.

- Eric

 

How did you deduce this? Was it in a practical manner like checking out the date code on the engine, or checking for a high VIN derivative on the stamping pad? As you say, it's your theory. I'm ok with that because I don't have anything better to offer except they were installed by a PO for some unknown reason. I'd bet this engine has been apart at some time in its past. None of this proves anything though. The fact is the VCs are on the engine - at least for now.

 

No ideas why, however I've seen this many times over the years on what I would have guessed to be original 350's. ~BOB

 

Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I don't see any notches...?

 

No your eyes are right. Sorry, pic didn't show notches.

 

Those notches are made in the first stage of stamping, on the draw die. Considering the volume of both, I would think they were separate parts.

As for presses, a small transfer press which would make those would run, I would think, a die with two wells and that valve cover is probably a 3 or 4 operation part. You'd be throwing a pair out every 7 or 8 seconds or so. But, all those dies are swappable, and that press would have lots of other parts to stamp.