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Valve Covers- Stock and Aftermarket
Pontiac V8 Valve Covers- Stock and Aftermarket
Stock Look or More Room — Valve Covers- Stock and Aftermarket for Pontiac V8s
This is where the stock and aftermarket valve covers live — correct-looking chrome for a factory restoration on one side, and cast, finned and fabricated aluminum for a build that needs a different look or more room on the other. What separates them is inside clearance and whether the cover came drilled for a breather.
Butler stocks year-specific Pontiac chrome sets for 1965, 1966 and 1967-77, Edelbrock Classic and Signature Series aluminum, RPC cast and chrome covers from 2 1/2" to 3 3/8" tall, and a hand-fabricated Moroso 3 1/2" set built to your options.
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1. Factory-style chrome, by year
The stock covers are not interchangeable across the years, because the factory put the breather and the oil fill in different places. Match the set to the engine you are putting back together.
| 1965 389 | the chrome set has a hole for a 5/8 rubber grommet on the passenger side and a twist-in cap or breather on the driver side. |
| 1966 | passenger side comes with no hole at all, driver side is drilled for a twist-in breather. |
| 1967-77 | 2.25" inside clearance height and non-baffled. Breather duty falls to a small-neck push-in unit with the small-OD grommet; oil fill is either the factory-style twist-in cap or an aftermarket twist-in breather cap. |
| 1967-77 as a kit | the kit version boxes the covers with the oil fill cap, grommet, thick cork gaskets and stainless bolts, which is the shorter path if you are doing a whole top end at once. |
2. Edelbrock aluminum
Edelbrock first made these aluminum covers in the late fifties, and the Classic Series is still the finned look most people picture when they picture an aftermarket Pontiac cover.
| Classic Series | heavy-gauge sand-cast aluminum with the ribbed, finned top and the Edelbrock logo, 3-3/4" overall height, offered in black powder coat, polished, or natural satin. They ship undrilled and can be machined to accept breathers if you want them. |
| Signature Series | a stock-height cover in black, and it comes with grommets, so it is the simpler swap when you want a clean aluminum top without changing the clearance picture. |
3. RPC cast and chrome
The RPC range is where height matters most, because the short cast covers are genuinely short.
| 2 1/2" cast aluminum, black or polished | the lowest option here, and the copy carries a warning worth repeating — they may not clear aluminum roller rockers. |
| 2 9/16" polished finned cast | made in the USA for Pontiac 325-455, sold as a polished set with grommets included. |
| 2 3/4" short chrome | plain, no logo, for a build that wants chrome without a brand name stamped in it. |
| 3 3/8" tall chrome with baffles | the tall chrome set, baffled, and the only one here that may not clear a power brake booster or the A/C box. Use the 1" ID by 1.25" OD grommet if you are running 6001-style breathers in it. |
4. Fabricated aluminum from Moroso
The fabricated 3 1/2" set is the option for a roller valvetrain that still wants an off-the-shelf part number.
| How it is built | hand fabricated in the USA with a 1/4" thick gasket rail and a set of 5/16" stainless bolts. |
| How it comes | choose your logo, oil fill cap installed in the driver front and passenger rear location, and a 1.20" hole predrilled if you want to add a 6001-style breather. |
| What it clears and what it does not | at 3.5" it will clear most stud girdles, may not clear power brake boosters, and will not work with factory A/C brackets. |
5. Measure before you buy
Three numbers settle almost every valve cover question on a Pontiac V8.
| Rail to booster | measure from the valve cover rail on the head to the brake booster. Three inches is the working figure; less than that and the tall covers are off the table. |
| Inside clearance | a stock 1967-77 chrome cover gives 2.25" inside. A stock rocker setup lives there happily; aluminum roller rockers and any kind of girdle do not. |
| Hole size | factory covers are drilled for a 1" hole and aftermarket aluminum is usually 1.25". Buy the grommet to match the cover, not the breather you already own. |
If the car is going back together stock, buy the year-correct chrome and be done. If the top end has grown, decide on height first and finish second, and call us if the booster measurement comes up short.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Call our tech team at 866-762-7527. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.