<VV> Valve covers

[Larry Forman]

At 07:00 AM 3/23/2004 -0600, Stephen Upham wrote:
>I'm thinking about putting on the valve covers offered by Clarks which are 
>finned in order to increase the oil cooling capacity of the covers.  Any 
>experience with these covers and insights gained would be 
>appreciated.  ie. Do they significantly reduce oil operating temperature, 
>function well, ect.  Is this something that can be done relatively easily 
>with the engine in the car, or should I do it now that I'm in the middle 
>of an overhaul?  I would also like to install the finned oil pan, but I 
>understand that it will hang down another 1 1/2 inch below the car.  Is 
>this a concern or not?
>
>Stephen Upham
>Dallas, Texas

Hi Stephen,
Personally, there are other things I would do first to get the oil temps 
down over the valve cover swap.  There are a LOT of things you could do like:

Run synthetic oil and lower the temps by 20 degrees alone, REALLY deflash 
the heads (this is the #1 approach for lowering running temps), run with a 
12 plate oil cooler AND A/C side plates, paint the outer half of the 
pushrod tubes with white VHT, install washers in the head side of the 
exhaust pushrod tubes to keep oil from flowing down them, run with deep oil 
pan and lowered pickup tube, finned aluminum valve covers (I think these 
are marginally effective over the other things), run with an external oil 
cooler if you really want it cool, run without lower shrouds in the summer, 
make sure you are not running lean and your advance cannister is not coming 
on too soon, plus some others I would need to think about. You could even 
run with an Edlebrock water injection system off eBay for about $50 and 
have it switched on by a temp switch or manually.

I think that with these you would have NO trouble keeping everything 
running fine. Do you run with dual switched CHT sending units? Handy to 
know what is REALLY happening back there. These 14 mm ring mounts can mount 
in the stock head temp sender/switch location.

To FINALLY answer your questions, YES, swapping the valve covers is simple 
and even adding a deep oil pan, with reduced clearance.  Just don't fly 
over speed bumps and you should be fine.  Deflash the cylinder heads FIRST 
and run with CHT sending units and a gauge to know what is 
happening.  Since you are in the middle of an overhaul, you could do some 
or all of these.  I would also open up the oil passages in the crank and 
block and radius the crank oil openings, drill extra holes in the main 
bearings as well as drill extra holes in the lower block halves to allow 
the oil to flow faster to the pan.  Have the crank straightened and it will 
do wonders in lowering oil temps through reduced friction.  TONS of things 
to do to lower oil temps.  Hi oil temps should never be a concern if you do 
all you can do to reduce them.  Laugh at the heat once you lower the temps!

-- Larry