After Market Valve Covers

[carnuck]

They discovered the center bolts caused the cover to warp

[eagleman]

Well I can see where the bridge would cause the plastic cover to warp,that makes sense to me but I would think the aluminum one would be fine with the bridge and stud.Anyway its food for thought.Just wondered why it is not used seeing as how its already there and all.

[carnuck]

I guess you could try if you wanted. I just use "The Right Stuff" and be done with it. The plastic cover Max98059 has was glued on with just the end screws and no leaks.

[eagleman]

Well after waiting for more then a week my valve cover finally showed up and it looks pretty nice. Just a plain aluminum cover with  polished fins and 4.2 on top but still looks pretty nice. Sure beats that leaking black plastic flower pot thing. Any way I was reading the instructions and its pretty basic just the normal drill and tap stuff and all  then when it came to tightening the bolts it said to tighten the rear ones first then tighten the front ones then tighten the middle ones.I thought to myself that can't be right so I reread them and anyway thats what it said to do. Still don't sound right to me so I thought I'd just ask how the rest of you did it. Seems a better way would be to start in the center and work out ward and the two at each end would be last. What do you all think?

[Budwisr]

Just started to install my aluminum valve cover today and I can't help to wonder why the new cover does not have the holes in the center of the cover where it uses a bridge stud. Seems to me that it would help to seal it better. Strange thing is the new cover comes with a new bridge without the stud to install in place of the studded bridge when in my opinion it would have been just as easy to have put a couple of holes in the new cover and use the studded bridge. I'm sure there must be a reason for this but I'll be if I can figure it out. Maybe one of you has a answer. I would sure like to know.

The PML aftermarket valve cover has the option of using the bridge mounting. http://www.yourcovers.com/valve_covers_8656.php

[mental1896]

Just found a really inexpensive one while browsing the web: http://www.jeep4x4center.com/rough-trail-valve-cover-kit-aluminum-os-83501398-al.html

No idea how good it is.

[IowaEagle]

That is a good price.

[Blue4Door1985]

I ordered the aftermarket aluminum valve cover for my '85. My directions say that there are holes that need to be tapped for the valve cover. They also say that for model years '85 and later do not have the pre-drilled holes. That means I would have to drill the holes and then tap them. I would be fine with this, but I have heard that there is not enough room in the head for the drilling and they leak when you do this. Has anyone had this problem or did I just get bad information?

[Mernsy]

Here's some info.

http://amceaglesden.com/guide/index.php?title=How_To_Upgrade_Your_Valve_Cover

[priya]

I ordered the aftermarket aluminum valve cover for my '85. My directions say that there are holes that need to be tapped for the valve cover. They also say that for model years '85 and later do not have the pre-drilled holes. That means I would have to drill the holes and then tap them. I would be fine with this, but I have heard that there is not enough room in the head for the drilling and they leak when you do this. Has anyone had this problem or did I just get bad information?

Someone tapped my head for the aftermarket valve cover prior to me getting it.  We didn't realize they had cut through to the water jacket until after we had the head rebuilt and installed on the motor and in the car.

[AMC1]

I purchased mine (1983) from Turner 4WD Parts Co. >http://thejeep.com<

[carnuck]

You can seal the threads if they go into the water jacket. If I were able to, I would redo the Clifford design to allow more room for bolts. The options are allen head screws or T bar bolts like hotrodders use.





You can see the Tee bolt by the air cleaner.

[mental1896]

So Vangremlin came by yesterday and helped me put my new aluminum valve cover on. It was easier than I expected and we only had to tap the two driver's side holes. The engine was rebuilt about 20 years ago (according to a warranty document in my glovebox). Consequently the three holes on the passenger side had been plugged and tapped for 1/4" so we had to run to the hardware store for some new bolts.

By the way: you know in the eaglepedia valve cover guide where it says to cover up the rocker arms so nothing falls into the engine? That's sound advice. I dropped one of the screws into a pushrod cavity just moments after removing the old cover. We got it out, but that was an unnecessarily stressful 15 minutes or so.

[TheGoldenEagle]

I keep seeing people say about the valve cover swap that it's only for eagle engines '81-87' Or '81-86', Which is it? I have the 87, which i've heard some examples got an OEM aluminum. Just curious if that was mistyped, and that the 87 is the same as other eagles before it.

[carnuck]

‘87 to ‘91 4.2L came with aluminum cover with a little overlap. Wrangler YJs.