Should I worry about baffleless valve covers?

stangman67

Member

Feb 8, 2003

294

0

17

connecticut

May 2, 2005

#1

• May 2, 2005

• #1

Ordered some new covers today, those nice aluminum polished tall "FORD Racing" ones, for non-efi, and found out they do not have baffles. Should I worry about this? Will the PVC valve be drinking straight oil now? I know tons of people use these, so do you have any consumption or leaking problems?
Thanks.

 

gbarber

Member

Jan 26, 2004

158

0

17

delaware, ohio

May 2, 2005

#2

• May 2, 2005

• #2

I had to cut the baffles out of my covers so the rocker arms would clear. Now my oil filler breather and PCV are pretty oil saturated. My valve cover are very low though, barely clearing the rockers. Maybe taller covers won't be as bad.

 

PoliceInterceptor

Keeper Of Automotive Oddities

Founding Member

Aug 5, 1999

2,161

0

46

Live in GA, But could be any where really.

May 2, 2005

#3

• May 2, 2005

• #3

I had to use some unbaffled pentroofs on my 390 to clear the Ersons.

Moroso and Ford racing both sell "baffled" grommets for the PCV and push in type breathers. You can get them at Summit Racing.

No problems with mine so far.

 

gbarber

Member

Jan 26, 2004

158

0

17

delaware, ohio

May 2, 2005

#4

• May 2, 2005

• #4

That really helps me out. I was going to buy new covers, but looks like $10 will fix my problem. Thanks for the info.

 

R

ron67fb

Founding Member

Aug 3, 2001

1,117

0

36

SF Bay area, CA

May 3, 2005

#5

• May 3, 2005

• #5

The baffled grommet helped me somewhat, but oil still got around the grommet itself. Summit also has breathers with a PCV valve built into it if you want a cleaner look, but the PCV pushes into it with yet another grommet, which caused even more leaks for me.

I bought the tall aluminum valve covers from Summit. Exactly the same as the Ford ones and it included screw-on baffles. My friend bought the Ford ones for $80 more and the only difference was the Ford script. The baffles and the packaging for them were even identical.

Now I'm using a PCV valve on one side, and a closed-system breather on the other side, both on the firewall side of the valve covers. I then drilled another hole in the front for a K&N "breather". The trick, though, is that the grommet holding the K&N breather on is molded shut. It's one of those "cut your own hole" grommets, but I didn't cut it open. To add engine oil I pull the K&N and grommet out. The hole is a 1" hole and opened up with the Dremel until the breather and grommet fit super tight. No leaks, and it looks good! The breather has a deep neck so it stays put. I had an aftermarket "710" cap that didn't go very deep, and it got lost while I was driving.

 

geostang351

Member

Mar 30, 2005

946

0

17

Danb., CT

May 3, 2005

#6

• May 3, 2005

• #6

Hope you drill the hole in the valve cover with it off the motor. The metal shavings are usually a bad thing.

 

2nd Mustang

Founding Member

Feb 24, 2002

2,488

0

46

Southern California

May 4, 2005

#7

• May 4, 2005

• #7

I've tried those baffled grommets too, didn't help at all, oil still got through. I did buy those plain chrome tall covers with baffles from Summit to clear the roller rockers and they work great with just plain PCV valve on one side and a regular breather on the other side to the air cleaner with a PCV filter on the inside of the air cleaner.

 

Bullitt

Packin' Heat

Founding Member

Jan 13, 2000

2,743

0

47

Houston, TX

May 4, 2005

#8

• May 4, 2005

• #8

i have the same valve covers, and after experiencing a lot of oil consumption through the PCV valve, i know just run two breather caps with hoses attached that run down the side of the motor. no oil ever comes out of these, but the air passing by the open inlet pulls the crankcase gases out of the covers.

works fine for me so far.

 

stangman67

Member

Feb 8, 2003

294

0

17

connecticut

May 5, 2005

#9

• May 5, 2005

• #9

Well the Ford aluminum valve covers come with baffles, but I have to install them with 4 screws. Any tricks I should do to make sure they dont rattle loose and fall into my engine? Some sort of loctite?
THanks for all your replys.

 

Great68

Founding Member

May 16, 2002

691

0

16

Victoria BC

May 5, 2005

#10

• May 5, 2005

• #10

stangman67 said:

Well the Ford aluminum valve covers come with baffles, but I have to install them with 4 screws. Any tricks I should do to make sure they dont rattle loose and fall into my engine? Some sort of loctite?
THanks for all your replys.

Click to expand...

You got it. I used loctite blue on mine.

 

65ShelbyClone

Founding Member

Sep 9, 2000

4,675

38

119

Antelope Valley, SoCal

May 6, 2005

#11

• May 6, 2005

• #11

If you dont plan on removing the baffles in the near future, then you can use red Loctite(also known as "permanent").

 

PoliceInterceptor

Keeper Of Automotive Oddities

Founding Member

Aug 5, 1999

2,161

0

46

Live in GA, But could be any where really.

May 6, 2005

#12

• May 6, 2005

• #12

On the baffled grommets:

The Moroso versions are noticeably deeper than the FRPP ones, so if your valve cover hole is positioned so that about a 1.5 inch grommet will clear the internals, I am convinced they are most effective.

In my case, the Valvecover is tall, and the hole places the grommet between the rockers for 2 adjacent cylinders, so they worked out good for me!

I wanted to use stock valve covers, but none of them would clear the Erson FE roller rockers.

I'd always chose baffled covers before the baffled grommets, but if for some reason you have to run the unbaffled covers, the grommets are bound to help.