valve cover woes

chuck smith · 09-02-06, 09:22 PM

I have a nice set of Gurney-Weslake valve covers for my 302 but am having trouble with fitment. It appears the roller rockers interfere with the covers. I have ford svo aluminum heads and have aluminum cobra valve covers on now, not extra tall ones. Any ideas? thanks; chuck

Jim S. · 09-02-06, 09:36 PM

Chuck,

double gaskets are an easy fix in some cases. I also believe that there are spacers available that look like gaskets, but are made out of aluminum. Moroso maybe?

Good Luck,

Jac Mac · 09-02-06, 09:47 PM

I find its usually the baffle plate that hits rockers etc, If so reworking or make up a new baffle out of alloy to clear might be enough. Not easy though.
If its held in place by 'drive pins' now is a good time to replace them with either threaded screws or even 'tig' the baffle in place.

Jac Mac

Dan Weilacher · 09-03-06, 10:35 AM

Hi Chuck, I went through the exact same thing with the Gurney Weslake's. I had aluminum roller rockers and they have a larger area at the pushrod end. This causes them to hit the covers so bad you cant even align up the bolt holes.
I resold my rockers on eBay, and bought a set of comp cams pro magnum rockers. They easily clear even with no gasket in place. Take a look at the pro mags on the web and you will see how there is no extra material inboard of the pushrod seat.All aluminum rockers have this extra thickness. Good luck , Dan

**patbarry** · 09-03-06, 11:00 AM

I used Crane gold rockers with no stud girdle and had no problems with clearance. My engine guru said with my rpm's I wouldn't need a stud girdle, if I did, then I would need the larger cover. The riser for the valve cover is about $130, so I was hoping I wouldn't need one, and I didn't.

Dan Weilacher · 09-03-06, 12:16 PM

Hi Pat, your running steel chromed covers though right ? The Gurney Weslake covers are very thick aluminum and come up at an angle toward the rocker at the inboard side. Now when I pull my cover bolts out the cover slides down and then hits the rockers. I did no grinding on the covers Chuck ,and now they will bolt on with clearance. Note in the pic below the adjusting nuts are loose , I figure why crank them down while the engine is sitting waiting to be started .

chuck smith · 09-03-06, 01:19 PM

yea, the Gurny's are very thick and heavy. So you do not think grinding will work? Have any pics with the covers on? thanks; chuck

Dan Weilacher · 09-03-06, 06:40 PM

The bolts are just finger tight, no gaskets yet. I am still building my car.I thought grinding on my covers was not going to do it, that or i would go through. Maybe your brand of rockers was not as bulky. Mine were scorpion rollers.

Paul Thompson 'Hooligan' · 09-03-06, 07:50 PM

A narrow belt 'finger' sander works well to remove metal in the covers to clear rocker assembly...

Also - Jac - would 'drive pin' be the correct name for the part labelled '5' below?

Jac Mac · 09-03-06, 08:02 PM

Thats correct Paul, that photo look,s like it could tell a story, not sure that I should ask !

Jac Mac

Sandy · 09-05-06, 12:24 PM

Looks like a puzzle

... I see part of a dip stick, maybe an oil pump drive...

Also the Ford GT350 Shelby and related aluminum valve covers (Tiger, etc) have that same BS pressed in Drive pin that holds their worthless baffle plates. I have 2 sets and all are suspect, they only have been on the car for a short time due to the bad breather baffling.

I used comp-cams stainless rockers and only had to do a bit of grinding on the Shelby style, I think it is a very common thing for cast aluminum VC's on the ford.

Sandy

Paul Thompson 'Hooligan' · 09-05-06, 04:56 PM

The Weslake covers do look good once fitted! - The Chris Melia items I fitted to Charles Kergon's GTD look great but as I said, they did take a bit of grinding on the inside of the upper edge as it was slightly fouling the heel of 'some' of the rockers. The covers were of quality material, with ample thickness for them to be modded with the finger file I mentioned above.

Back to the 'puzzle' -

Both correct - the parts (2 - 5) were removed from the Sump of a 40 I've been working on that had a sudden loss of oil pressure. The heavy duty oil pump drive had its hex end sheared off (part 1) when the pump injested another (much smaller) piece of material. The pump fitted was a high volume item and fortunately the big ends and mains show no signs of any wear at all - surprising as the engine has not been apart since being built 6 years ago. A replacement pump, drive, filter, thorough clean and fresh oil will hopefully sort it out...

The rivet thing (5) must have been in the sump for some time as the current rocker covers had no such pins/plates fitted, the baffles being welded in place as suggested by Jac Mac above.