Small Block Please

I'll pass on that idea. SB Mopar parts don't sell very well for me so I don't intend to invest any more money into that segment.

What do they weigh?

So these are true billet, right? Meaning they started out as a big block of aluminum. Something like 90% of the aluminum was turned into chips. Talk about machine time!

One can get a pretty nice welded valve cover for $250, but the only thing billet about that would be the valve cover rail, right?

So are there advantages that I am not imagining? Is the reason for billet mainly looks? Or is there something else?

R.

Yes, these start out as 35 lb pieces of bar stock and then they mill away 30 lbs and you end up with a 5 lb cover.

The advantage for me is in having a cover that fits correctly and seals up tight so I can run a lot of vacuum. I can also put the material where I want it for threaded fittings and things like that. I've tried most of the valve covers on the market and haven't found anything that really works. A high end custom sheet metal cover could be made to work but the cost is going to be roughly the same. Some of the sheet metal covers that I've looked at are junk although they had a premium price tag.

Moroso has some Chevy valve covers which are billet. The BBC covers are more than $700 and I think the SBC covers are in the $650 range depending on which version.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mor-68469/overview/

I'll attach a picture that shows what the inside looks like. You can see the tooling marks on the inside. They use different tools on the outside so you don't see the marks.

Wow... that's gotta make a shipload worth of chits when the machines are finally done.

If you're going to all that trouble, you should incorporate channels for a spray system. I've been thinking about machining the tops off a set of cast covers and making a set of bolt-on plates that have oil passages machined in.

What program do you use to design them?

I'm going to do some small block covers, I'd look at Predator units if Andy isn't interested in doing them. I thought about Hemi ones, but the Noonan ones are really good

I've seen some of the Noonan stuff. I don't know what the prices are on it but the ones I've seen are very pretty.

I think that Ultra Pro stuff that I posted earlier is about the best value available but maybe someone else has experience with another supplier. Moroso has gotten into the billet valve cover business lately with some cool stuff. Their 68050 SBC cover is pretty cool. Super lightweight and the cost isn't too bad at $600 from Summit. That is a good price for a part with so much 3D scanning on it.

They even make one of my old core motors look good.

I like the fabricated covers in the link, nice but not in the same class as billet.

440Source has fabricated valve covers for $170. Fabricated valve covers are made from sheet metal that is welded together. A billet cover starts as a big chunk of aluminum and then the valve cover is carved out of it. Totally different process. Some high end fabricated covers are made from a mixture of billet and sheet metal. I've seen SBC covers which use billet ends and a sheet metal middle. That is a nice way to get the complex shapes in billet but the flat shapes from sheet material.

Andy keep up the great work. I have a couple of your engine plates (and will be buying two more) and I bought a couple water manifolds for the B1 I am building for my small tire car. Very nice products at a fair price. Thanks.

That's just a welded sheetmetal cover with a thin gasket rail. Probably comes with a guarantee to warp the rail and leak

I think fabricated valve covers all depend on who builds them. Some guys seem to know how to do it while others just build junk. The good ones cost a fair amount. To do it correctly a person probably needs to invest in some proper jigs as well as some sort of tempering oven to relax all of the welding stress. Nice thing about billet parts is that 6061 aluminum tends to be very stable. Pretty rare for the billet stuff to warp over time.

Beautiful!

Plus you can really get some weight out them, while still keeping a decent thickness flange for sealing. I'm hoping to get my ones down to 0.030-0.040" thick