Valve Cover Buying Guide
One of the most popular topics in about the Pontiac engine is valve covers. This includes questions about functionality, style, originality, and customization. Let us help guide you in making the best decision for your Pontiac Valve Cover application.
Factory Style Covers
We supply the common factory style covers for the 1965, 1966, and 1967-1972 Pontiac engines.
1965- 389 Chrome Valve Covers- one hole for 5/8 rubber grommet on pass. side, twist-in cap/ breather in drivers side*
1966- Pass. side- no hole/ Dr. side- hole for twist-in breather
1967-1972- Small 1" O.D. Breather Hole and Twist in Oil Fill Cap on the other. These do not contain oil drippers
Breathers
RPC-S9171- Push-In
Small O.D. Grommet- RAR-VCGR1
Oil Fill
Factory Style- AAU-N225B Twist In
Aftermarket- RPC-S9617 Breather/Cap
To run these style covers on roller rockers that have polylock systems you may need to run a thick valve cover gasket or even a valve cover spacer
Click Here for Valve cover spacers
Aftermarket Style Covers
The ultimate Pontiac cover is the Butler Billet Valve Covers. These are custom designed and milled right here in our cnc shop from pure blocks of billet. They can feature any one of our designed and engraved logos or we can even mill your own custom logo into them. They are made from 6061 billet aluminum and feature a thread milled custom oil fill. Breather holes can be added to either or both ends of the covers. Comes in short 2.75" and tall 3.75" versions. Short clears all roller rockers and the tall are designed to accommodate stud girdles. Available with Evac bung. See Evac Section below.
The next cover that has been a staple on Butler Engines for over 2 decades are the hand fabricated aluminum BFA covers. These have an extra thick cnc milled bottom rail for good gasket seal and features bent and welded .125" thick sheet metal sides and top. Comes in short 2.75" and tall 3.75" versions. Short clears all roller rockers and the tall are designed to accommodate stud girdles. Available with Evac bung. See Evac Section below.
The last of the custom covers are the economical hand fabricated covers. These covers are made from .090" sheet metal with a cnc bottom rail for good gasket seal. Comes in short version only. Short clears all roller rockers. 3.25" Tall.
Other aftermarket VC styles
These covers come as they are with specific holes, oil fills, and cannot have logos added
Valve Cover Customization
All aftermarket covers have a blank canvas to engrave your favorite Pontiac logo. We ball mill engrave every logo right here in our cnc shop. Contact us for custom logo options.
Breathers and Oil Fills
1954-1964 (except SD) Breather
1965-1967 GTO, LeMans, Tempest
Aftermarket Styles
Pontiac engines need to breathe to relieve crankcase pressure. We recommend at least 2 breathers in your covers to help with this. There are several factory style breathers to keep the original look or you can go with the billet S6001 style that is a multi-piece design with cleanable filters inside. These breathers are also sold with several different Pontiac custom logos.
Oil Separators
Oil Separators uses internal foam discs. Ideal for plumbing your crankcase into the air cleaner Baffle system prevents oil from entering air cleaner
Locations
We drill breathers and oil fill in the center between the end of the cover and the bolt holes. This gets it in between rockers. Locations for these will depend on your application. We typically like to drill breathers on both covers at the rear near the firewall and the oil fill on the passenger side in the front. Some applications have large ac compressors, brake boosters, or wiper motors that interfere with these locations and not having proper clearance. Be sure to measure clearance based on the cover height chosen. Our locations are in 4 common areas and addressed as looking into the engine compartment. We choose driver side or passenger side front or rear.
Evac Covers
One of the common issues with larger cubic inch motors is that the pressure in the crankcase can be increased. This pressure can cause dipsticks to pop out of the tube, press oil out of existing breathers, and cause rear main seal leaks. To offset this pressure we offer Evac kits that evacuates the air from the engine. To run this system efficiently you must seal off any external air source. If you have existing covers with breathers you would plug the holes. We have designed covers especially for evac systems. Our covers have a singe oil fill to get oil into the engine but otherwise have no breathers and one single AN fitting located close to the evac pump. The fitting also has a welding in baffle to reduce the amount of oil that is sucked through the system. Click here for black evac covers. Click here for raw finish evac covers.
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