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Tall vs short valve covers BB car - Power Brake issues now too
As I posed in another thread, I pulled my valve covers to a, see what was there and b, put on different valve covers as the ones on the car scream Mullett from the 80's..... Low and behold, I have after market rockers that stand about 2 1/2 inches up and clearly stock originalish orange or chrome valve covers will not fit.....
Any advice as to who makes a reasonably affordable old style valve cover (orange or chrome) that will fit with these higher valves, and as I am trying to put on power brakes, I am assuming a 9" booster is now out of the question and I should be looking at 7'?
Unless you have a very aggressive high lift camshaft, just get rid of the roller rockers and poly locks. Install stock rockers with new nuts, and put original valve covers on it. If you want to add power brakes, make sure the left side has the indented corner on it to clear the booster.
Crower makes a short set of poly locks that might suffice combined with an extra thick or stacked set of valve cover gaskets. I think the Comp stainless rockers are lower profile than the aluminum ones as another solution. I commented more about the rockers in your Head Games post.
Crower makes a short set of poly locks that might suffice combined with an extra thick or stacked set of valve cover gaskets. I think the Comp stainless rockers are lower profile than the aluminum ones as another solution. I commented more about the rockers in your Head Games post.
Those are good options that will work but he will still have clearance issues with the booster.
Hydroboost setup with PS, and he won't have to worry about VC clearance.
JRM, unfortunately I don't know what is in the motor for cam, pistons, rods, etc....
Chances are Ricky Racer put them on the engine, Chevrolet factory rocker arms worked on L88 engines, they will most likely be fine on yours. If your car has a smooth idle, you should be fine.
I used the Comp Cams roller rockers that have the ball rather than trunion and put a stock nut rather than poly lock on driver side rear to clear valves cover dish. Used a slightly fatter v/c gasket. Seems to work ok.
BTW, the easiest, slowest way to move the motor is remove the plugs,a nd put it in top gear and have someone slowly push the car while observing dial indicator movement. You will need about 6 feet push distance for two full motor revolutions.
Doug
Andy, I had the same issue with my tall 427 small block. I ended up buying a set of tall, chrome covers from Summit Racing, cutting off the corner and welding on a patch. Here’s the thread.
I would not remove the roller rockers and get into that slippery slope. Summit sells a set of heavy gauge steel chrome valve covers for less than $40 and they’re not the cheap warped ones.
Some light reading for you. The degreeing can be done on an assembled engine, determining lift is a piece of cake. If you want to get absolute, you will need piston stop that goes in the spark plug hole. Do not rotate the engine by pushing the car when using a piston stop, use breaker bar on the damper retainer bolt, the bolt should not come loose while reverse rotated if the plugs are out and the car is in neutral. If it does, you can install some long bolts in the pulley retainer holes and use those for leverage..
Doug
12-09-2018, 09:29 AM
Tall vs short valve covers BB car - Power Brake issues now too
