[John Phillips]

I'm trying to grind out the baffle bosses on my psgr. side stock valve cover, to clear FRPP 1.7 roller rockers. Does anyone have a picture of how much needs to be taken off? Grinding this aluminum really clogs up my bit, and progress is slow. It'd be nice to take off only what is strictly needed. Hey, maybe this is why folks buy aftermarket covers, huh?! Thanks for any help or ideas.

 

[raceral]

Be careful if you are grinding with a stone type bit.. they will load up with the aluminum and explode on ya..

 

[John Phillips]

Al, I'm using a serrated metal bit, shaped kind of like a round-top Christmas tree. The aluminum seems to kind of melt into the serrations, so the thing is eventually almost smoothed over. Then, I let it cool down, and pry aluminum from the serrations with a tiny screwdriver. I bet there's a specific kind of bit for this chore, maybe I'll journey to Home Depot tomorrow. in the midst of all the Christmas shoppers! Thanks for the heads-up on the stone grinders.

 

[Cemi]

John,

I put modeling clay on mine to check clearence. I made sure it cleared without the valve cover gasket. The nice thing about speading out the clay is it shows you exactly where the rocker arms contact, so you don't have to grind more than you need to. Make sure to turn the engine over a few times each time you check.

 

[CobraJet]

John,
Just so happens I did the same earlier this year and took pics. Here you go:

Just need to grind in one spot, that's it! By the way I am using TFS heads and rockers so your mileage may vary...

[ November 30, 2002, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: CobraJet ]

 

[John Phillips]

THANKS! Working on it some more tomorrow. Gas tank refitment went sour, needing a new fuel gauge sender, so grinding sounds good for Sunday!

 

[Tanner]

I am using 1.6 rollers from Crane on my 351W with Edelbrock Performance RPM heads. I want to use the black COBRA Powered By Ford aluminum valve covers, but they only come in standard height. Does anyone know if these will clear the 1.6 rollers?

Tanner

 

[Cheetah Neal]

Tanner,

I have a set of the (used to be) black wrinkle finish Cobra Powered by Ford aluminum covers on my GT-40 heads in my 65 Stang. I use stock height gaskets and did have to do some grinding and a bit of reshaping (flattening) the baffle that I left on both sides (directly below the hole in either cover) to help prevent splash out from my Crane 1.6 roller rockers. They have worked fine for over 30k miles but I recently decided to add a PCV valve and the one cover has a slight tower on it for a push in breather. So, since I couldn't put a PCV valve in that side, I decided to just go with a new set of Edelbrock covers.

So, if you're lookin for a good deal on the Cobra Powered by Ford covers, I'd sell these. Also, mine are polished and look pretty nice.

 

[Tanner]

Cheetah Neal,

You have mail.

Tanner