Valve Cover Destruction!

[ZeroChad]

I've had a Mancini VC since around the fall of 2007. Its been working great, except for the powder coating around the 2.0 SOHC lettering is starting to bubble (I blame MI salt).

Anyway, as some of you know I'm having some major problems with cylinder 1 in my car. No compression. At this time, I'm thinking its a busted exhaust valve. Well I decided to take off the valve cover today and see if I could find any evidence of what the problem was.

Tada!


I'm sure this isn't related to my issue, but WTF? The inside plate of the valve cover busted off the rivets. It was just chilling on my rockers. Surprisingly it didn't make much of a noise. There are marks on it from where the rockers were contacting it.





I'm wondering if those marks were from before or after the plate broke off. If the lift of the comp 400 was enough to allow the rockers to contact it, it would make since that it broke off the rivets.

Anyone heard of this problem before? Is this going to dump oil out my pcv without the plate in there?

[Danteneon]

Interesting As far as I know, my cover is still intact. That blows man

[sneakers O'toole]

wow, that's crazy. yeah i had mine from '06 to this past summer and it was fine when i took it off. maybe just a freak accident? maybe it was hangin by a thread anyway and whatever happened in cyl. 1 finished it off.

[occasional demons]

I doubt you will get much more oil slinging near the PVC outlet than what was there with it free floating. The intake rockers have been slinging oil in the area since it fell off anyways. Mine still has the deflector in place as of a couple of months ago. Might be a year less than yours, but not with a 400 cam. ('02 Magnum)

You could re attach it by drilling with a 1/8" drill and using steel 1/8" rivets. Just buy as short as you can get rivets, and drill only deep enough to seat them. Maybe use some small washers to back them, and to reduce the hole depth. You don't want the holes too shallow, or the rivets may not hold.

But the question is, are the rockers contacting it? You could leave it loose, and hand crank the engine, but will they be at full lift without some way to pressurize the oiling system?

You could mark the rocker locations, and place the metal over a socket, and dimple it with a ball peen hammer to gain some clearance. If it is needed.

[ZeroChad]

Thanks for the comments guys. Bill, I'm really thinking just welding it on would be the best option. The holes in the baffeling pretty enlarged from ripping past the existing rivets.

Right now though, I'm planning to leave it out until I resolve the cylinder problem. I know the 400 has quite a bit of intake lift. It would be sad if it really does contact the baffling on the magnum VC.

I'd be curious is someone on here is also using a comp 400 and the mag VC, to check if there is any rubbing like that.

[occasional demons]

Bill, I'm really thinking just welding it on would be the best option. The holes in the baffeling pretty enlarged from ripping past the existing rivets.

The baffle and cover aren't compatible to weld. IIRC, there were just cast aluminum "studs" that were peened to hold the sheet metal in place. Also why I suggested washers with rivets. But the PITA would be drilling holes. You could make the sheet metal holes larger, and place aluminum washers over the holes, and weld the washers to the cover through the washer hole. It shouldn't go anywhere then. You just don't want the steel to touch anywhere while TIG'ing the aluminum.

The oem plastic covers use screws to hold the baffle. IDK how the oem Magnum covers are, just going by what I think I recall from the Mancini piece.