I pulled the valve cover on my engine and the guide plates are Comp Cams Part # 4816. I checked these and they are listed as Guide plates for a Ford. Can these/should these be used on a chevy engine? I chjecked and the part number for the chevy ones are 4808.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CC...n/?prefilter=1

 

Without actually putting a 4808 on top of a 4816 to see what the differences are, I'd say to install the proper guide plates. There's nothing saying you can't use them if they fit and align everything properly but you have no idea why they were used.

 

I must confess, I've been living on this planet for a long time now, but one thing that still baffles me, is why these human things you have here, do what they do. So now if I look at something someone did and see that it's just bald-faced goofy, I just consider the source (human) and chalk it up to that. Unless I can ask the particular human directly, it's not worth figuring out. Better to just clean up the mess.

That said, the only differences would be, the spacing between the studs and the space between the push rods. Since your heads are obviously not stock, you might call their mfr and ask them. Or, call Comp and ask them what the specs for those 2 measurements are for their part, and see what insight they can offer. It may be that your particular model of heads has the valves slightly farther apart than stock SBC specs for example, or something like that.

 

IIRC the two are very close in dimension.

 

I ran Isky adjustable/universal guideplates in my motor, and for what it's worth, the range of adjustability on them isn't large (Seems to indicate that most heads use guideplates that are relatively close in dimension). I wouldn't be surprised if the Ford design fits well enough to work fine

 

My BBC guide plates are a lot different than the SBC design because of the canted valves in BBC heads. I've cut and welded 2 of the guide plates to reposition the pushrod so that the rocker is riding on the valve stem properly. As I already said, if everything lines up properly, there probably won't be any problems. Make sure the rockers are centered over the valve stems. make sure the pushrods are not touching anything other than the guide plates.