Sickest Looking Valve Covers for SBF...Help me spend some money!

Apex_speed · #1 (**permalink**) 07-27-2018, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tortuga

Spacers are bonded (glued) with ford grey sealant, cork with metal core felpro gaskets. I drill and tap for covers for the wire guides. No leaks no loose wires.

The covers are hard to find though.

I actually found these covers in my search but am over spacers and adaptors so not an option. I’ve had issues despite proper prep an Ford TA31 sealant.

tortuga · #2 (**permalink**) 07-27-2018, 10:15 AM

These are tighter than a nuns punnany...I did the FE adapter thing too and they were a leaky mess. Part of it is getting good quality, I bought mine from a guy who had them ground dead flat and parallel...

Apex_speed · #3 (**permalink**) 07-27-2018, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tortuga

These are tighter than a nuns punnany...I did the FE adapter thing too and they were a leaky mess. Part of it is getting good quality, I bought mine from a guy who had them ground dead flat and parallel...

I have the "good" ones but all my leaks are on the head side no matter how well I prep so I'm giving up. Even if I did get a 100% seal, I can't have something that finicky on a car that might go on a cruise and spring a leak 600 miles in. I can't just pull over, reseal it, wait 12 hours, then catch up to everyone else.

If it doesn't have a regular gasket, I'm not putting it on there.

Apex_speed · #4 (**permalink**) 07-27-2018, 05:14 PM

The "CS Shelby" valve covers (and everything else in that family) from Scott Drake do not fit the 427R with Comp Cam rockers and stud girdles that sit about 1/2" high.

The hight is actually fine but the clearance at the bottom of the rocker to the exhaust side of the cover is way too close (less than 1/8") so any movement while tightening down could cause them to hit.

I next day aired in some nice "fabricated" aluminum covers with a satin finish so we will try for round 2 tomorrow. The fabricated covers are as large as the billet Roush covers so hopefully they will fit with no issues. They also have a 1/4" thick flat rail on the bottom for the gasket mating surface so that should make life easy.

SBF covers are an adventure. It would seem like someone other than Blue Thunder would want this market and also that BT would do more frequent production as they are almost the only game. Cobra Valley used to have some great ones but discontinued them.