It seems that every time I have a decent set of rocker arms, there is a need to find some valve covers that will actually fit over the rockers. The rockers are scorpion pedestal mount 1.72 ratio. They are sitting on top of GT40 Iron heads. I tried a bunch of valve covers so far. Most would require a spacer under the upper intake for them to work, or they do not clear the rockers, or the strut tower brace. Its a dance that all too many people are familiar with. I thought about going with the trick flow stock height valve covers (known to work), but wanted to see if I could make a set of foxbody covers work.
I tried a set of 1993 valve covers. They seem to fit well, but the oil filler neck on the passenger side looks like it is going to interfere with the cold air intake. The thought popped into my head - why not use two driver side valve covers! Doing this would essentially eliminate the oil fill neck and hose that goes to the cold air intake. There is still some work to do.
Modifying the driver side valve cover
I procured a 3/8 NPT female weld fitting from Jegs part number 15252. We cut a hole in the valve cover and tig welded this in. And by we I mean my buddy Lou did the tigging and I did the cutting / modification of the fitting. It had to be shortened a bit using a belt sander. I also procured a fitting from amazon.com: Banjo HB038-90 Polypropylene Hose Fitting, 90 Degree Elbow, 3/8" NPT Male x 3/8" Barbed. It's plastic and will accept the same diameter hose as what is typically on the filler neck for the passenger side valve cover. The last step is to fabricate a baffle under the fitting that was welded in to prevent the intake from sucking in too much oil.
Two driver side covers
To eliminate the filler neck on the passenger side, I decided to procure another driver side valve cover. The first valve cover I got was from ebay and was for an 86-93 5.0. The dial stamp on the inside of the cover was marked 87 meaning it came from that model year. That one didn't fit. There are some braces on the inside walls of the cover that hit the rockers. I kept an eye out on ebay and finally found a set for a decent price - passenger and driver side. So now I have two sets of valve covers from the 93 model year. That one fit as expected - no problems.
Prep and Paint
I plan to prep and paint the valve covers. While I'm working on those I'll keep the two passenger side covers on the motor - so two filler necks. The upper intake is not yet installed, so there are no clearance issues. The plan is to strip, parts wash, and prep the two valve covers for paint. I'm going to use a self etching primer and black wrinkle paint on both valve covers. This will be done after the baffle is tig welded in place.
Update:
Bung was welded in. My buddy who did the tig work also welded in a baffle that I mocked up. The covers were then taken to a shop to have them powder coated flat black. I think they came out great! They clear both sides of the rockers, no problem.
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