I think you mean without the casting line they bring more money. The ones with the casting lines are on there everyday. Its hard to find the ones with no line. Luckily mine has the original ones on it without the line but I am looking for an extra set too.

 

In general how do you go about cleaning-up/polishing up the raw mold aluminum with flaw valve covers to brighten them up or should they look more raw like? I have a 1965 365hp motor and just bought a raw pair from Paragon but they look too dull/raw.

 

They should look somewhat dull and look like unpolished aluminum. Polish them up and they're ruined.

 

Thx very much on the dull look reply .....I guess I 've seen so many that have been over restored/polished up that I didn't know which end was up.........but as the saying goes if ur not looking for NCRS awards......which I'm not...."to each his own".

 

The molds are not cracked. The parting line is what you are seeing. The mold closing surfaces are worn and need to be surfaced ground but an insert would have to be made or the cover would be short.What you are seeing is casting flash as the molds do not shut off properly. Without a parting line the cover cannot come out of the mold. I watched a company in Saginaw Michigan called Walboro cast these covers and joked the Corvette people are going mad over your flash problem. Why don't you fix the mold ???
This same company made the c3 covers that were black powder coated over silver painted fins.
Dick
Virginia Vettes

 

Hard to tell the difference in a picture but the valve covers in this photo are fresh out of the bubble wrap as soon as I received them back from a professional 'reskinning' by Jerry McNeish...the reskinning recreates the rough, dull, natural aluminum look.

 

Does any one have a spare set they could sell for my 62 with a reasonable price....mine were recently stolen....I wanted Al to pick me up a set when he was just in Florida but he doesn't know engine parts, only interiors and someone sold him a tin set...he tried but no results.....

 

I have a couple of sets (don't know if my price is "reasonable"?) $250.00

Trying to figure out how yours got stolen/ Someone unbolt them from your Vette?

geopar@gvtc.com

 

My early 67 (sept 66) has one valve cover with the very faint flaw and another without. The judges didn't like it that way but I'll never change it.

The repro valve covers made with the same mold got progressively worse over the years with a lot of flash in the "O" in Corvette. Attempts to make it better are usuallly very easy to spot...

 

When I got my 67 in 2002 it had valve covers without the flaw, which is wrong for my car. So I posted a want-to-swap ad here in the forum parts section. Tom McCabe had the flawed valve covers I needed, and he needed my non-flawed one, so we swapped. The only expense was postage; that's the way I'd go.

 

Frankie... please explain to me why they are ruined if you polish them up.

Bruce

 

You guys are making me sick reading these replys. When I originally bought my '62 in '87 my 327 came with the aluminum covers with the casting line through the "O". To be correct, I needed the steel valve covers. I thought that the aluminum ones that were on my engine were knock offs because of the molded defect and sold them for $50. And I thought I got a good deal. Now I'm thinking "Who the sucker now"?

 

All you guys with a casting line in your '65 valve covers need to stick together. A couple months back, I entered into a "discussion" on the NCRS site and was politely told I was full of sh**. I'll tell you guys what I told them.
In 1967 I bought a 350 hp. '65 convertible. The car had about 10K miles on it when I got it. No one had turned a screw or bolt on the motor. Both valve covers had faint lines that went all the way across the cover at the “O”. The line was inside the “O”, but it was not otherwise flawed or filled in as some are stating later covers were.
I am a member of NCRS and do not fault the organization. They will change their minds if enough evidence is brought forward.
I joined NCRS many years ago. The judging manual stated that my '55 Corvette came with sealed beam headlights. It took years of "quiet" discussion around the country before NCRS came to the realization that since the first 12 volt headlight were metal backed bulbs, maybe they actually put them into the Corvette since that's all that was produced at the time.
So if you have good reason to believe your car has not been messed with, stand up for it.
(I'm getting down off of the soap box now.)
Thanks,

 

They still look kinda rough. Is that corrosion or pitting?

 

Off topic - I have researched 53, 54, 55 headlight bulbs and wrote a detailed article that may some day be published in the Restorer. I can tell you the all glass sealed beam "12-V" embossed Guide bulbs were in the system at least by April 55 since they are listed in the parts manual of that date. I believe they were installed on Corvettes sometime later in the year but can't say what date.

 

Troy,
That is possibly another confirmation of my car. All birth date calculators put the build date as March 16th.
Mike

 

Its a aluminum, not steel so much less prone to such problems. These are early C1 covers and are shown as they came on the car.

Polishing, if taken to an extreme, is nearly undoable. I have a set of polished covers that I've tried to blast back to an original look and they have just been too smoothed out to look right.

 

Here's a picture of the valve cover on my late 66 (July 66 build). The inside of the O looks pretty clean. I don't think these are late reproductions as I understand that the casting flaw continues to get worse. These may be service replacements from the 70's or 80's.

I guess the could be originals, but doubt it as they are very clean. I've had the car less than 2 years, so don't know either way for sure.

 

As I noted 4 years ago, when I last replied to this thread, I had to clean the right half of the "O" out on my valve covers, which were on the motor I had built in 1981 for my 62. They were new GM valve covers at the time, not reproductions. They've been relegated to "spares" duty for the last 20 years after finding an original set.

 

My 67 has the original motor but non-flawed valve covers.

I wonder how many folks spotted the valve cover flaw when they were taking delivery of their new '67 and told the salesman they wanted them replaced. And how many of those salesman just went out on the lot and swapped them with covers from a '65.

That might explain some of the non-flawed covers on 67's and flawed covers on the 65's.