Fitting Gurney Eagle Rocker Covers to 302

[cgclassics]

I have bought a pair of Gurney Eagle rocker covers from Andy at Tornado, but am having some issues fitting them. I would have thought this is something that others have come across and solved so asking here.

The car has basic Edelbrock aluminium heads (standards valves) and 1.6 rocker arms. The original rocker covers on the engine were polished aluminium standard Ford Racing covers which fit fine without interference with the rockers. I went to fit the Gurney Eagle covers but cannot get the bolt holes to line up with the head without the covers touching the rocker arms. It’s not a height issue and the inner width of the Gurney Eagle covers is exactly the same as the Ford Racing covers, so it is not as if they are narrower. On looking closer it’s the relative location of the bolt holes compared to the side walls on the cover that is slightly different such that if the bolt holes were aligned with the head holes, the cover walls are a couple of millimeters displaced to the outside of the block compared to the Ford Racing covers and contacts the rockers.

The relative hole spacing is all fine and the same as the Ford Racing covers. As it’s not a height thing adding another gasket made no difference and I can see inside through the oil breather hole that the problem is the side wall relative location.

Obviously I could drill the holes in the covers out to move the relative location of the cover, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea given it’s 1.5-2 millimetres we’d need to move, but maybe that’s what others do? Similarly I could ease the wall on the inside with a grinder, but it seems a lot to take off and I think the wall would get perilously thin.

What’s the trick to get over this?

Thanks
Craig

 

[Mark Boyers]

Will take a fair amount of work to get them to fit anything but stock heads with stock rockers ,this should be made absolutely clear to any one who buys this product as your not the first person to fall foul of this problem

 

[Andy Sheldon]

Craig
Please see my reply to your email
Thanks
Andy

 

[cgclassics]

Thanks all for the responses. So essentially I'm going to mill off some of the side wall to get the clearance. I should have tried the fit before painting them up, but the internal dimensions widthwise were identical to the Ford Racing covers I had, so wasn't expecting a problem. I'll just need to watch the wall thickness as I go.

Craig

 

[Mark Boyers]

watch for the tapering near the top
good luck

 

[cgclassics]

Just an update on this. The Gurney Eagle rocker covers are now painted up and fitted. I used a 12mm tungsten carbide burr on an air die grinder to take about 3-4mm thickness out of the inner side wall (nearest the inlet manifold) and to trim back the bolt hole bosses on that side. The wall is about 8mm thick, so plenty of material left afterwards.

I coated the roller rockers with engineering blue and checked for static clearance. When I was confident it was enough, I loosely bolted the covers on, (leaving them to move if I had got the clearance wrong), and spun the engine over without firing just to check for contact when the rockers were in motion.

Height clearance was not an issue at all.

I did also open out the bolt holes by 0.5mm just to improve the alignment with the head bolt holes, and cut 30mm holes in for the breather fittings and oil filler cap.

It was a fair amount of work, but they are on now and do look good.

Thanks for the various hints and tips.

C

 

[Randy V]

Hopefully Andy passes on your modifications to other purchasers..

 

[Morten]

Hopefully Andy passes on your modifications to other purchasers..

I very much doubt that as this is a years long old issue, but one can always hope.

 

[Andy Sheldon]

Randy

In actual fact it was me who told Craig how to fit them.

Its never been an issue to fit them with any type of rocker arm if you know what you are doing.

Craig emailed me and I replied but he had already posted on the forum before he got my reply.

I must admit it did annoy me slightly that he had not waited for my reply before posting.

Only the experts on the forum seem to have issues fitting these valve covers.

Andy

 

[Nick]

Randy

In actual fact it was me who told Craig how to fit them.

Its never been an issue to fit them with any type of rocker arm if you know what you are doing.

Craig emailed me and I replied but he had already posted on the forum before he got my reply.

I must admit it did annoy me slightly that he had not waited for my reply before posting.

Only the experts on the forum seem to have issues fitting these valve covers.

Andy

Hi Andy,

So, where the modifications made by Craig outlined above, all the steps you told him were needed to fit them correctly, or are there any others? For example in some cases might they also require a spacer kit like the one needed to fit your Gurney Weslake valve covers ?
Thanks

Nick

 

[Andy Sheldon]

Nick
Yes they were
Spacer kits are only needed with taller rockers
Thanks
Andy

 

[Nick]

Thanks Andy, Craig's and your input should help anyone looking for info on here about how to fit them.