I saw these things (you know where). The seller claims these reproduction aluminum valve covers were made in Mexico. Do all the repros of them come from there and look this bad? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2411097921&category=33627
Rear A/C Bracket Speaking of the finned valve covers, does anyone have a rear a/c bracket they want to sell? The regular bracket doesn't clear the fins, or so I've been told.
Having had a set of these wonderful looking valve covers on the 'ol '66 Riv, all I can say is, Ugh! :gt: Horrible! I bet they crack and break when you try torqueing them down, who knows if the holes even line up correctly. They don't even look visually straight to the naked eye. Better stock up on engine cleaner and floor dry if you mount them on your car. Cause they're gonna leak!
Re: Rear A/C Bracket John, When I put the finned covers on my '66 Riv's 425 in place of the stock covers I didn't encounter any problems with clearence at all. Thats my experience anyways. But, you know the more I think about it, I seem to remember the cover on the passenger side had a recessed area in the front to help clear that bracket. HMMM....Time to dig into old photos.
Dale, were your covers genuine Buick, TA Perf, Carmen Faso, Poston, or these "hencho en Mexico" especials?
John, I assume they were genuine Buick since I bought the pair of them, and the large chrome aircleaner at a swap meet back around '81 or '82. They were pretty dirty when I got them. I paid the guy something like $25.00 for the lot.
AC recess Dale's right about the recess to clear the bracket, although not all of the valvecovers that I've seen have it. John, you may have to look around for one with it.
Here is a picture of my engine showing the rear AC bracket installed over the aluminum valve covers. The one that goes with the stamped steel covers will not fit over the aluminum ones--the aluminum ones are more squared off on the top and it won't fit over them. The only covers I have seen with any indentions in them are the ones for the '66 models sold in CA--they have an indention in the drivers side cover at the front inside corner to clear the air pump that was on all the CA cars.
Interesting..... I know for a fact that the aluminum covers I had did not have any indentations in that area of the cover to accomodate the bracket. Only in the very front as mentioned. What gives? I had no clearence problems on my 425 with that rear bracket. I just took the stamped covers off and bolted on the aluminum ones. And used studs with nice chrome acorn nuts in place of the bolts. P.S. I still have those stamped covers if anyone is interested........ No? I didn't think so. :laugh:
The reason you didn't have a problem is that alot all of the '66 models had the bracket made for the aluminum valve covers even if they had the stamped steel covers. The '65 and older cars had a different bracket that matched the curved shape of the stamped steel covers. I guess they realized that since the one for the AL covers would work with the stamped steel ones that it was cheaper just to use it for both types. Maybe one of the engine plants ran out of the other bracket and wrote a deviation to use the one for the AL covers on all engines! Also keep in mind that this bracket is different for cars with 2-4's than cars with a single 4 bbl. The single 4bbl. bracket doesn't curve as far forward. The boss on the intake is about 2 inches further forward on the 2-4's intake. Since all cars with 2-4's had the AL valve covers, there wasn't ever a bracket just for the stamped steel covers and 2-4's. The only time you run into this problem is when you put the AL valve covers on a car that had a single 4bbl. and stamped steel covers.
Well, the guy down the street with a mig welder and a plasma cutter stopped by to check out what I'm up to with my Buicks, and I just happened to have one of my new finned covers sitting on the right head. So I grabbed the rear bracket and showed him how it doesn't clear by about 1/4". He said bring it over this weekend and we'll cut and weld on it to get it to clear AND look good. I got my covers from Poston, and thankfully they look quite a bit better than those Ebay especials above! I'm putting on TA shorties with Jet Hot coating, finned valve covers, finned valley cover, QJet manifold and QJet. Should look and run good! Thanks for the Dual Quad pic. I just love those.
