And so I first tried to reuse the original valve covers, which—my plan was—to paint the factory-correct Chevy Orange.
However, after having them bead blasted and hot tanked, I realized they were beyond being salvageable so I decided to look for used ones.
When I first got my Corvette, it had more than a few oil leaks. And while I suspected the valve cover gaskets being the culprit, it never occurred to me that the valve covers themselves could've been the ones doing the leaking.
Anyway, at the time I just took the OEM covers off and installed a set of aftermarket covers that sort of emulated the L-82 units. Unfortunately, those things leaked from every corner, regardless of thickness, quality, or brand of gaskets used.
So, after a while, I decided to go ahead and order a set of Edelbrock Elite II cast aluminum valve covers which looked beautiful. Not to mention the excellent quality of Edelbrock products.
Since I already had the Edelbrock Performer intake manifold in place, plus the Edelbrock 1406 carburetor and air cleaner, the whole setup looked great, but I had issues with hood clearance and, eventually decided to have the original Rochester QuadraJet rebuilt and had the factory air cleaner assembly powder coated.
So the Edelbrock valve covers looked a bit out of place, in my opinion.
I searched online for a decent set of used OEM valve covers but decided that spending time and money refurbishing them would be wasteful, so I looked for other alternatives. That's how I found out about the Trans Dapt valve covers.
The ones I bought are made out of steel and are powder coated in the right shade of Chevy Orange, and even though I decided to keep the intake manifold in its natural aluminum finish, the engine bay and motor finally look right.
I also used the original oil filler "S" rivet cap, which I polished so it would match the distributor shield, and I also bought new bolts and washers from the hardware store. The original valve cover tabs looked horrible with a combination of rust and chipped orange paint, but a good sanding and polish brought them back to life beautifully.
So here's the finished product after I installed the Trans Dapt valve covers.
I bought 7/32" cork Fel Pro gaskets (Part Number: VS12869AC) from the local auto parts store, and used black 3M weatherstripping adhesive to glue them to the valve covers.
I am very pleased with the end result and the factory look.
There's something about that Chevy Orange that just looks right and good under the hood, so I am very glad I went back to basics.
Thanks for following my '76 Vette Blog!
Product Links... (#sponsored)
• Edelbrock Elite II Valve Covers | Part No. 4262
• Edelbrock 7549 Valve Cover Gasket Set
• 3M Black Super Weatherstrip and Gasket Adhesive | 5 fl. oz.
• Small Block Chevy Tall Bowtie Logo Raised Letter Orange Valve Covers
• Chrome Steel Twist-In Oil Cap for Valve Covers
• Fel-Pro 1628 Valve Cover Gasket Set
• Fel-Pro VS12869AC Valve Cover Gasket Set
• Trans-Dapt 3051 SBC Valve Covers/Engine Kit | Powder Coat Orange
