427 FE Style Valve Covers on SBF

[Joe's Garage]

Originally Posted by blykins

Buzz, my gripe isn't with you as you obviously have a Chevy engine and aren't trying to disguise it.

What I find hard to stomach is the guys who tout that their SBF or their SBC is the far superior choice, then try to make their engine look like an FE....

I noticed that Joe edited his post to add that an FE is "more expensive" than a SBF. Simply not true. You can have a 525-550 hp FE for the same price (or less) as a Dart blocked SBF. It's also funny that guys use weight as a bias. Obviously the original 427 Cobra didn't have trouble winning LeMans with that big ole heavy FE engine in there. 99% of the guys here do not race their cars and probably couldn't tell the difference in weight while driving any way.

When you get down to looking at it, how far are you willing to go to fakely make your drivetrain look like the original? Glue external linkages to the side of your TKO so it looks more like a Toploader?

Wrong on the edit, fixed a typo "build" to "built".

As for the rest, I think you are a little clueless about the reasons for going with FE covers on a SBF.

1. For some the FE pentroof cover just looks better than a SBF cover. If that suckers the "experts" then the joke is on them isn't it.
2. As these are freakin' replicas isn't that the idea - make it look like something it isn't.
3. Some replicas are designed for a SBF and not a BB - and done so for a reason, look at the replicas makers biased toward the track environment.

Just because your bread & butter is building FEs, that doesn't make it the smart choice, and for many it isn't. But making your replica look the part is the common thread and done to varying degrees by all.

[blykins]

Originally Posted by Joe's Garage

Wrong on the edit, fixed a typo "build" to "built".

As for the rest, I think you are a little clueless about the reasons for going with FE covers on a SBF.

1. For some the FE pentroof cover just looks better than a SBF cover. If that suckers the "experts" then the joke is on them isn't it.
2. As these are freakin' replicas isn't that the idea - make it look like something it isn't.
3. Some replicas are designed for a SBF and not a BB - and done so for a reason, look at the replicas makers biased toward the track environment.

Just because your bread & butter is building FEs, that doesn't make it the smart choice, and for many it isn't. But making your replica look the part is the common thread and done to varying degrees by all.

There are pentroof SBF valve covers out there that don't require trying to make an engine into something it's not.

Also, just because all of this is your opinion doesn't make me clueless. I get that you have FE envy. I had it too and went through all the same steps with my own Cobra. It initially had a Windsor. I stroked it and got as close as I could to 427 inches just because, you know, that's the magic number. Went through all the same mental exercises that you're going through, trying to make my Cobra play the part. In the end, I sold the 425W and built a 428FE for it.