I have a set of wiende(sp?) Ribbed valve covers that i think look pretty :cool: Does anyone know if these are a cast aluminum and could be anodized? I think if they have certain metals in them the anodizing won't take. Maybe they could be painted and hold up to the heat etc. Thinking of maybe using these

Yes, you can anodize them but that gets costly. You can have them polished or powder coated or just sand with progressivly finer grits of wet paper and paint in the grooves yourself. The bad thing about those old covers is they don't have baffles to keep oil from blowing out your breather or up your PVC hose.

I have a set of those old finned BBC covers. I polished them up along with an old chrome air cleaner lid, and they are mounted on my wall in my rec room/bar as ART!!!! Along with a bunch of other auto memorbilia. LOL!

for christmas im getting some edelbrock elite classic valve covers, same style as above, cant wait to put them on my 350, everyone will think its older and you cant beat the retro look smile.gif

Originally posted by BondoBob:
....The bad thing about those old covers is they don't have baffles to keep oil from blowing out your breather or up your PVC hose. Moroso makes a baffled pcv grommet that will help that problem. I've got a set of Cal Custom big block covers I'm working on now. Black crinkle finish with brushed fins.

I had a set of old Mickey Thompson finned covers.I got sick of polishing them. So I painted them with the same paint as my car.Then sanded the tops of the fins then polished them. Did the same on my intake on the logo. http://i21.ebayimg.com/03/i/03/07/04/cb_3.JPG

Are these the ones your talking about?
If so,what are they worth?I'm selling the ones from my motor.
http://img147.exs.cx/img147/7528/chevellemotor9zs.jpg

Adam, yes like those but they are for a small block. Adam are those painted or a satin aluminum finish?

They are painted.

those are cool but this is what I'm putting on my car if I keep it.

http://hotrodders.com/gallery/data/500/16418flames1-med.jpg

BTW, this is my first ever attempt at air brushing anything so be nice.

blumont, I have some for a small block that I bought from Danny Wooldridge, if I can find a pic, I will send it to you.

Prof, those look damn nice!

Originally posted by Slowpoke70:
Prof, those look damn nice! thanks

This is what I changed mine to.I was still working on the engine at this point when I took the pic,that is why some things are not done yet.
http://img74.exs.cx/img74/7250/fuelline8jd.jpg

Originally posted by BondoBob:
The bad thing about those old covers is they don't have baffles to keep oil from blowing out your breather or up your PVC hose. I have a set of M/T valve covers on my 350 and they work fine. The previous owner drilled holes out large enough to put a twist in breather in each valve cover. One cover has the PCV hole in it, the other is a regular breather. The breathers are the kind with the "lock" or metal "catch" on the bottom so its an intereference fit. He then took a small piece of sheetmetal, fashioned it so it would fit directly under the drilled hole in each valve cover, attached with a nut and screw on either side; the sheetmetal is roughly the shape of the drilled out hole.

I painted them with black crinkle paint, so you cant even see the bolts on the top holding the inner baffle on. Since the small attachments were underneath the breathers, you cant see it anyway. It actually works great! I've never had oil up the PCV hose- and my PCV breather is NOT baffled in any way.

My M/T's had knockouts for a breather. I just cut a hole big enough to put a rubber grommet in and used the push in style breather and also a PCV valve.

I am thinking of doing something very similiar to 70isfines' covers. I am just putting the heads on my new 406 so I have to check for clearance for crane roller rockers first. I was thinking of anodizing because I can get it done for pretty cheap .All those covers look great guys.

Thanks

I have some old Holley alum. valve covers. No baffles. The holes were drilled and fitted with rubber grommets by the previous owner. I use a regular push-in filter and a stock replacemnt PCV valve, no oil leaks whatsoever.

I would like to paint these the same as the block. I used a rattle can high heat paint. I assume i can use the same paint but do I need a different primer or any thing special for these cast aluminum covers?

Thanks

You can anodize a casting but you will not like the results. Cast parts are so porous that the penetrant dye will be bleached out in spots from the acid bath the parts are subjected to.
Only billet or extruded aluminum parts can be anodized.

Before being sent on a wonderfull southwest Asian tour with the Army I did a set of m/t's for a friend. I polished the ribs and the powdercoated them chevy orange. I then powder coated them with clear.I think the color will out last the car he put them on.