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After searching all over the internet I’ve failed to come up with a picture of any C3s with an LS and valve cover adapters. The valve cover adapters work by having the base mount to the LS head, the coil packs mounting on top of it, then a small block Chevy valve cover to cover them up and give a “retro” look. I think they look really neat and would look good in a C3 engine bay.
A completed engine with the adapters and a 14x3 air cleaner. They look really good in Chevy orange.
The biggest issue I can see for clearance is the brake booster on power brake cars, although I have seen people run the stock engine cover.
the closest thing I was able to find online was a person running a coil cover that fits on top of the stock LS valve covers. Although this car doesn’t have power brakes.
Is anybody running these or able to find pictures? What does the clearance look like? Would it clear a hydroboost system? I think it would clean up the look of an LS considerably and make it appear more original.
On mine there's no way they would fit. Even though the hood takes up 90% of the car, there's really not much space in the engine bay.
As you mentioned, the rear most coil pack on the driver's side is already very close to the vacuum brake booster. On the passenger side, the rear most coil pack is extremely close to the A/C box. Mine was actually touching. They make coil mounting brackets that raise up the rear most pack on both sides to solve these clearance issues, but then these covers wouldn't work.
On a car with no A/C (or a Vintage Air-like setup with everything under the dash) and manual brakes, maybe these covers would fit. They do look nice though.
You could go all out and really try to fool people:
The cosmetics in the second picture do make the motor look pretty retro. If that's what you want, the valve cover trick goes a long way to get the look.
If you are thinking about going carbureted, I did and discovered hood clearance is a pretty big problem. You will need to look into that in depth. There are other clearance problems with the water pump mostly, but much more easily resolved.
Can't help you on the question you posed, I dropped the LS in, as is, and was happy it looked so tech.
If you want a picture of LS valve covers near the firewall, let me know.
You would most likely need to set the engine forward and modify the top of the driver's footbox for clearance.... I have Hydroboost brakes already - just don't see how the added height would clear without major surgery.
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LS swap valve cover adapters
