Valve cover baffles....how important are they?

[3spd on floor]

so i would like to use my old, dented, dinged, power by ford valve covers on my brand new engine. why you ask? because i'm poor. but the baffles on the inside just barely hit the nuts on my rockers.

if i just cut these out, will i have big problems with oil gettin in either the PCV or just spilling out from under the breather cap?

if so, would it be wiser to just drill holes in the baffles where the nuts hit them?


thanks again guys.

 

[classic boost]

yes, the baffles are very important. oil will get squirted out the breather without them. just dent the baffles to clear the nuts.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

I concur.

My M/T valve covers only had one baffle and it hit my rockers too. I had to remove the baffle and the bosses it mounted on. After that oil was spraying out of my baffled breathers. Luckily I was able to stop the problem with some breather extensions.

 

[tos]

Is it just barely to where you could bend your baffle up a little. And is it the nut or the stud?

 

[fasttback]

To clear my roller rockers usning my aluminum valve covers, I removed the baffles and milled down the mounting studs with a die grinder and tapped the remaining mounting studs to accept machine screws. Reinstalled and was good to go. Or just buy some used "tall" valve covers on eBay.

 

[BornInAFord]

Use double gaskets (glue the two together with appropriate glue/sealant), then glue to the valve covers. If you get the thicker gaskets (like from ROL, 1/4" thick), it should give enough clearance. In my carbed 5.0L with Edelbrock 60379 heads and Cobra 1.7 roller rockers, I am running the stock 1966 valve covers with no issues using this technique. Good luck with whatever you choose.
Daniel

 

[65ShelbyClone]

In my carbed 5.0L with Edelbrock 60379 heads and Cobra 1.7 roller rockers, I am running the stock 1966 valve covers with no issues using this technique.

Thats the same head/valvetrain combo I have and I only needed maybe 3/16" of clearance. I figure two gaskets would push it all the way up to 3/8 which is probably enough for anything but Jesels. My M/T covers are not the tall version, BTW.

 

[BrownPSU78]

ripping the baffles out is a bad idea...i did it to reuse an old valve cover that didnt have the clearance and oil got all over the place

 

[Stangninjak]

Yep no baffle=bad. I wanted to use my black and satin ford covers from my old engine, but they were just not tall enough even without the baffle's. Even with trim down inside, I got oil everywere. Then I read that removing the baffles were a bad idea all the together.

I went and picked up a set of Ford Racing Tall covers, and it work out better than I thought it would. They look dam good with the air filter I have as well.