Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance New valve cover coming soon! 250 292

I am presently pursuing the making of a new valve cover for the 250- 292 engines.
Goals of this cover include:
Correct fit
More internal clearance
Cosmetically cleaner look
More clearance under the hood
Affordable

It is designed with fins on the entire surface with no name to break up the finned area. Bolt on breather and fill hole adaptor are planned. These would be on side of valve cover.
Internal clearance should be greater than a Clifford cover.
The valve cover is also designed so the top can be machined for conventional top fill and PCV can be used. Internally , bosses are included for baffles, in this case.
Notice the driverside of cover. The normal reliefs around the head bolt holes have been filled for a cleaner look.

Still have to design the bolt on fill hole and breather/PCV.

Thoughts are welcome!

I see several advantages right off the bat with this cover. No more expensive spacers to buy to use other style valve covers to gain rocker clearance, no more specially clearanced rockers arm sets for the two end positions that are also expensive, and no thermostat spacer or special thermostat housing is needed to clear at the front of valve cover, and finally, no more custom sheetmetal valve covers will have to be purchased either when using stud girdles for performance or racing applications which are also expensive. Having a valve cover that eliminates all of those unecessary components is going to make it so much cheaper.

Wow, What a great design bigger and littler at the same time!

Looks good, Tom.

Yes I would buy one, any thoughts on cost?

If the price is right, sign me up.

Tom, looks good,gives it a very clean look.Any chance for one simar for us Big six Ford folk later on ?

He already has one available for the Ford 300's.

Tom,
Thanks for all the R & D for the rest of us. I for one appreciate your work and the results are great too! I receive compliments all the time on the items you produce that I use on my cars.
Normbc9

Thanks Norm! I appreciate that.

Won't know the price till they get made and machined. Hopefully by December.

Dear Santa,

I'm in sign me up!!!!!!!!!!!

OK...I guess I can wait till December

Maybe if we're all good boys we'll get'em in our stockings.

It would take One BIG SOCK!

We'll get the socks all you need to be concerned with is getting it down the chimney!

Very Nice!

I only have one problem. Don't drink enough beer to make one lump a month from the cans. Have to start walking the ditch's.

Next time you're in Nevada I'll fill the wagon for you.

I like it, but would like it even more if it said "Chevrolet" in the same script as the older Corvette valve covers.

Here is the VC cut from billet. Off to the foundry after polishing.

I want one!

Great work Tom, but as usual what else do we expect from you. Herb #3241

Do you have the internal and external dimensions for your cover as opposed to the Clifford cover. If it is high and wide enough to clear the rockers and use one stock gasket without any adapters it could be a very worthwhile option.

Thanks

Bruce
Will have better specs when it is back from the foundry. Shrinkage takes place when cast.
It is planned to be bigger on the inside than the Clifford cover.
At foundry now. Got my fingers crossed.

Here is Valve cover #1. Couple small blems. Good to setup my machining with. Also sending out # 2 to be polished.
Will check out it dimensions this weekend. It looks nice!

Oh yeah!

I like it.

Good job.

I am interested.
Are you going to machine the gasket surface?

I know on my Offy valve cover, I had to machine it a lot to get a straight surface. Poor Q.C.


MBHD

Thanks for the compliments.
No plan as of yet to machine that surface. May have to. The first one checked sits flat. Offy's VC are really bad, I do not know why people buy them. I do know why, there was no choice, till now.
I have checked many a heads valve cover seal area. They are almost always curved. Humped up in the middle of the head. Pure crap. Check one and you will see.

Here is the first polished unit. It is only a semi polished start. More will be done after machining.


Hope to get the jig for machining made this week.

Nice work Tom, I need to get one when they are ready.

Had some time to check fit on a head. No wobbles or ill fitment. Phew! Also compared to a Clifford. Over 1/4" deeper at the minimum on the inside and atleast .100 wider inside. More measurements will be made.
There is still no way to clear the huge block of aluminum that a Harlan Sharp rocker presents. The front and rear rockers will still need rounded on the pushrod side. Good news is my brand rockers fit without issue.

Getting a bunch of heads ready to machine, had a busy weekend. Setting up a new shop, family and my real job keep me very busy. Otherwise the VC machining jig would have been made.

Making progress, slowly. Taking my time to get all the bolt layout nice as possible. Making the jig took awhile. And still not done.

Looking good! Will these covers be available through your web site or are we all going to have to go into a bidding war over on evilbay to get these??????????

WOW nice! i have a clifford 235 cover and adaptor place, looks ugly as hell once mounted with the adaptor! will keep an eye on this thread for progress, thanks for sharing the progress of the process to make these.


joe

The covers will be on my website and Ebay.

Any discount for inliner members?

MBHD

Mr. Tom,
I've been out of pocket for a while now.
Read this thread shortly after you origionally posted it.

Question for ya...
What is the diff. in height of this new valve cover, verses your older version with that monster spacer that I presently have ?

I'm going to have some serious clearance issues with running the carb hat over the valve cover and then trying to close my hood on my 65 Chevy II Wagon.

I'll hit ya up with a phone call after first of the year.
Thinking of sending you my 250 head and having you do it up for me.

Thank you Sir, happy Holidays,
Stu

How deep is yours with the spacer? It might give everyone a reference that might be considering either one.

Stu, Glad to see your back on the radar!

Finally, some progress made on the cover. Jig works perfect for precision bolt hole alignment. Next Is a little rework of the pattern. 2 of the gasket tabs not alligning properly. Also add recess's for head studs to protrude into cover. Then stand back and watch the aluminum fly!

Been working on my shop. After the storm last year wrecked my building. Built a new one. Added a shop area that is 32x42 with 14' ceilings. 6" of insulated concrete with radiant floor heat. Spray foamed the walls and ceiling. Just wired it. Next hooking up my equipment.