Welding Valve Cover Pockets to Clear Turbos
 

(I started a new page to keep track of my fab projects on the Camaro at Z28tt Project)

Since I built the new engine, there have always been oil leaks coming from the valve covers. These AFR 210 heads are perimiter bolt, while the old L98 had centerbolt valve covers that never leaked. I initially had some gorgeous sheet metal valve covers, but they hit the turbos severely, so they were sold to Rick, for his mean yellow 434 Camaro. I then acquired some solid cast aluminum valve covers from David Tuschoff at Thunder Racing, but they also hit the turbos. The only ones that would clear were the cheapest, flimsiest stamped steel valve covers. Which leak. Even with The Right Stuff RTV that seals anything. I was fed up with the mess, and finally took the die grinder to the cast aluminum valve covers, and cut out sections. Quite a bit was necessary for the drivers side, but the passenger side barely hit. There was a concern about the heat warping the valve covers, but a friend of mine from my days at Mallory (Jeff Diener) suggested welding them in a baking pan of water, to act as a heat sink.

Marking the valve covers:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_04.sized.jpg

Getting a fresh edge for the TIG welder:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_07.sized.jpg

Checking clearance against the passenger turbo:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_10.sized.jpg

Closeup:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_09.sized.jpg

Cardboard Template:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_11.sized.jpg

Tacking the piece in place:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_14.sized.jpg

Passenger Side Complete:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo..._001.sized.jpg

Drivers Side Installed:
http://www.skulte.com/albums/ValveCo...g_01.sized.jpg

Hows the rocker clearance in there?

DS cover looks like it had a huge bite taken out

The 1.6 CompCams Pro Magnum rockers just clear the drivers side, and have plenty of room on the passenger side. I went through a few revisions of cardboard working out the min clearance needed for the rockers, and still have some distance from the turbos. So far it looks like they are sealing completely. To top it off, I CNC machined some 3/4" thick spacers to move the exhaust manifolds away from the head (digitized the port profile of the AFR210's. machined the spacers, and then CNC ported my manifolds to match), but that moved the exhaust into the steering shaft and brake lines. Over the winter I'll fab up some larger downpipes with the 4" ovalized (2.5" narrow width) tubing, and really get it flowing well.

I had a customers car that I worked on that had a very similar issue with the valve cover hitting the supercharger. A quick pointer that I figured out is. Cut the part out real careful and straight. Then you can just invert the part that you cut out and weld it right back it. Makes for a quick and easy install. It also welds great because it is the same material.

I thought of that (and tried it with the cut out shape, just to see), but this valve cover isn't really square. It's more of a 5 sided shape, with the roof being 3 "sections", and also tapering down towards the front too. That, and I needed it to clear the turbo low by the rail, have it go at a 45 deg angle to clear the rockers, and then the vertical wall. It's never easy, but the passenger side only took about an hour start to finish.

I saw this when you posted it to your blog… are you getting any feedback from there? My wife has been pushing for me to set one up (actually, I have one on blogger but don’t have anything there yet).

My first thought was that wedge shaped adaptor flanges for the turbo flanges would have probably been easier (sort of keep them in the same basic loation but rotate them over slightly), or angle milling the flanges, depending on how much clearance you really needed.

We’re doing something similar to top/front of the passenger side VC on my brother’s car to fit an M112 in the place of the M90, but my brother really wants to make the valve cover part of the blower mount , an idea that I’m not excited about, and then move the fill/breather either to the back or to the other side under the manifold

No feedback on the blog really (File Not Found, but I haven't syndicated it either. It's a great place to keep all my notes, and fast to search. No more 6x9 notebooks all over the place...

I actually CNC machined some 1" thick spacers for the manifolds before I left Mallory Billet Aluminum, and CNC port matched the Gale Banks headers to the AFR210 heads. This had plenty of room for 8 EGT's at each cylinder too, but once I tried them, my downpipes started hitting the steering shaft, brake lines, etc. I'll re-do it all this winter, but that was the springtime, and I was hustling to get ready for NFME at Indy. The wedge flanges would put the bolts at an angle (into the heads), so the manifold bolt holes would need to get slotted, which is pretty much impossible with that casting. I thought of a wedge under each turbo, but there's about 1/8" clearance with the hood right now.

I put the manifold pics and spacers up at: Gale Banks Twin Turbo Manifolds

http://www.skulte.com/albums/Gale-Ba...2617.sized.jpg

http://www.skulte.com/albums/Gale-Ba...2590.sized.jpg