Valve Covers

[BradWE4]

I am having trouble getting a good seal. Took the bolts out to see what size washers to get to supplement the stock ones. Looked closely at the covers and found that one of the bolt holes was cracked and the rest were very concave. I was wondering if someone could give me a specific model of a car to look for. I have done the search and know to look for a 86-87 3.0 V6 but it would be helpful to know what types of cars these came in. This car seems to be a never ending problem.
Thanks, Brad

 

[turbota]

I beleive they can be found on 1986-7 full size G.M. cars with the 3.8 engine. I bought a couple several years ago to add a breather to my right side cyl. head. G.M. still has the rubber seals that go under the washers you mentioned (they still have the washers also) so sealing should not be a problem. The ones that I got had a PCV hole in the end, so I just welded in a aluminum disc (plug) to seal that. Hope this helps Turbota #70

 

[1badTTA]

Seen them on some 3800's also. Not sure what year, but if you go to a salvage yard you should be able to find a ton of them with holes in different locations (front, back, oil fill hole, etc.) Just start checking anything with a GM V6 and you will find something that will work.

 

[trading t/a]

Chevy used the 2.8 at the time so don't bother with them. Look for the jbody cars. Sunbird,skyhawk, I think olds made a p.o.s. similar to these. Anyone with a transverse v6 should score you a set. It'd have to be of the 3.0L kind though

 

[1badTTA]

Actually it doesn't have to be a 3.0, that is what I was trying to say in my last post. You are right about the cheby 2.8 and 3.1's being totally different though.

Just look around and you will notice they are on alot more FWD cars than you would think and you will also see that they aren't only 3.0's that have that style of valve cover (3bolt nuts on rocker studs). It may be possible that only the 3.0's have the exact same configuration of oil fill and breather holes.

 

[trading t/a]

Sorry for the misinterpretation. If you wanted a second set of TTA covers I believe them to be on the 3.0L. I haven't seen all the different engine's VC's so I can't say.

 

[tta583]

Not all that hard to find. Look at latter 80's and perhaps early early 90's FWD GM cars. There are several motors you will find. I looked at a lot of cars and covers when I did my set. Not because I had a hard time, I just wanted a good clean set with little/no corrosion. For the most part I think I can safely say if you find a FWD GM v6 with bolts through the cover centers which "look" like yours now they will fit. I could not find any variation in the covers that would lead me to think you could end up with a set that looks like ours however had some odd measurement or gasket sealing surface that will bite you. Your milage may vary so double check!! As for the holes. I found 3 covers variations. When looking at the transmounted V6 the firewall side covers all appeared to be the same. I found 2 versions of the radiator side cover. Both versons had a hole in the face for the oil fil cap. One version had a vent hole in the left end. The second version has a vent hole in the top/side like on our stock drivers side covers.

I would suggest you do what I did. Open a few hoods in a yard and locate 2 radiator side covers with end holes. You can have block offs welded in to the holes. Any bad spots in the patch will be hidden by the alt on the DS and the firewall on the PS of our motors. Larger breathers can be placed in the oil fill holes to help vent off excess crank case pressure under boost should you pike to do so. When you are taking the covers off keep the nuts, washers, and rubber gromets. I actually took some extra from the firewall covers off the cars where I got my covers. I did check on the nuts from GM, I want to say Dal priced them at like $12 EACH. His rices are usually good so I hesitate to think what the over the counter price is.

BTW, my covers came from like an 89 FWD Regal and an 88 bonnivile.

I have been "flaunting" this pic around as of late, so why not just paste it out here one more time . My covers in the car:

http://www.goattraks.com/displaypic...s.com/garage/BrentG/tanats03/bgtanats2003.htm

Brent