im looking for a nicer set of valve covers for my car. i cant seem to find any that claim to work or will work, so im looking for some first hand information. i had a set of the "cobra" ones which i liked, but they wouldnt clear 1.6 rockers and had a TON of little pegs inside them making it too much of a PITA to modify. im looking at some edelbrock covers or some of the FMS ones. which ones will work without intake spacers and clear 1.6 rockers still? i have an edelbrock performer rpm intake. i have the edelbrock catalog and part #4460/#4260 valve covers claim to work. can anyone confirm or post pics of your aftermarket valve covers. thanks
The only ones I know of that will work w/out an intake spacer are stock ones that are modified. The FMS ones might work
alright. thats kind of what i was getting down to. my stock ones were painted an ugly ass blue when i got them, and i spray painted them again black. they still look horrible though so i wanted some better ones. guess ill stick with stock replacements.
Have the polished FMS "mustang" ones I had some grinding to do but cleared by scorpions nicely with cork gasket.
I have the Ford Racing valve covers. No modifying needed. Cleared my 1.6 rollers and bolted right on.
Here are mine. I have an old style Performer RPM intake on it. No intake spacer, but I don't know how much taller the RPM is vs stock intake
Well I'm not for sure which "Cobra" valve covers your referring to...but I bought the Ford Racing covers that say Cobra on them for $150 from Summit... They clear my 1.6 Scorpion stud-mounted rockers and I have OEM valve cover gaskets (less clearance than cork) and it clears under my Performer intake without a spacer...Alls I did was take off the oil baffle and ground down the 3 pegs the baffle bolted to and put them on and everything cleared...they slightly hit the accelartor cable bracket but rest right against it...and they look good to...
they were the black and silver striped "cobra" valve covers. same ones summit sells made by fms. these had like 30-35 pegs in each valve cover, all sticking down too far to use any rocker with. i used a dye grinder and a dremel for maybe 30 minutes and got through like half of one peg. said screw it and sold them brand new.
That is the ones I have...and they didn't have that many pegs in each valve cover...maybe total...on mine... They cleared mine? with less dremeling and skinny OEM gasket...
they were in rows the entire length of the covers. probably a little over half an inch. spaced closer together then each rocker sits on the heads. i tried making them work, nothing would go through the stems either. i have access to a manual mill i could have used, but i just said screw it at the time. i would rather have the "ford racing" style anyways. with a cork gasket (which i use) i think ill go with the ford racing ones and hope it all works out.
Im building a new 306 this winter. Im using P&P E7's with either 1.6 or 1.7 roler rockers. Am i going to be able to use the stock valve covers or not? dont mean to jack your thread, but i hadnt even thought about clearence with the rockers?!?!?! thanks
I had 1.6 RR's on my 93 with the stock heads and valve covers and you can either trim the oil baffle or just remove it completely and it will have no problems...but obviously always check...spin the engine over with the valve cover sitting over the RR's (without the gasket) and see if it "moves" the cover...if not then your fine...because it will definatly clear when you add the gasket...
Just make sure you don't bolt the valve covers down when looking for the clearance...because if they didn't clear you could end up with broken valve covers...and just disconnect your coil on the distributor and spin the engine over...or you can do it by hand (15/16 socket on a break-over bar)... Good Luck with it...I'm sure you'll be fine if the oil baffle is removed...or trimmed...
