The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 54 vented valve cover? Impulse buy

We were at a small swap meet and I made an impulse buy. I purchased a 1954 Blue flame four vent valve cover for our 38368848 GM 28 235 1956 head. The current valve cover looks like crap it's a cheap chrome job with a missed match breather cap installed by the PO. ......Will the blue flame valve cover work as per width and length wise on our head? I hate to take it all apart and find its a no go bozo.....impulse buy.
Thanks, Steve

If your new cover has the four screw holes it will fit every 235 or 261 from 1954 to 1962.

Steve,

Nice find - you're covered.

You've been looking for one for awhile now with vents. They only made them that way for about a year and a half, so I would say you got exactly what you were looking for.

Thanks.....would the correct color be red which it is now or blue? Would you powder coat or paint.....?

TC Steve

1954 235 truck engine was gray

1956 Thriftmaster 235 was supposedly gray (or, green - for the Thriftmaster special)

Sorry about that......I would like to make it look like a 54 engine because the truck is a 54 3100.... The engine is 56-57. The puke red that's on it now looks to be primer....yuck!
Steve

There is a Can-o-Worms on the correct color in the Search archives.
You can probably find it by typing "No, you're wrong, fatso!" (The discussion gets a little heated.)
Carl

Haha...good call Carl.....yep I did and yep your right.....the best wheat out of the chafe was....Blue GM....not gray not red....OK...Blue wins.....but to powder coat or not that is the question....just the outside not inside...
Steve

The 1954/55 first series engine was Gray. I paint with Bill Hirches rendition of the proper Gray, but Duplicolor Ford Gray is not a FORD idea, rather an ERA idea, which many many machine products were painted in the day. Most of the engines on my site are Bill Hirches Gray, but the latest 1959 235 project is Ford Gray. Medium Gray is correct enough. I am one of those to argue for a very slight (VERY slight) tinge of blue in the gray. Better said.. in the gray spectrum, medium more towards blue than black, but only a very slight favor to blue. I own a commercial printing business, so I relate to PMS colors. Powder Coating is an idea. One I would go with except I would worry about it chipping when taking it on and off. You can paint it tuity fruity if you want, its your truck. Whatever you do Steve.. have fun with it!

Your right could chip under stove bolt clips...OK gray....no powder coating...FLAPS gray engine enamel spray paint. The worst part is getting all this done then trying to adjust valves before putting the vented valve cover on. We have no idea of when they were last adjusted but it sounds like a sewing machine. According to the engine numbers we have solid lifters for 56-57 engine.
Thanks Steve

Steve, I like that gray on a 1954 ("gray" with no qualifier is the only 1954 engine color reference I have seen in a GM document).

However, gray could mean any of 50 or so shades of gray.

Lots of great valve adjust procedures out there Steve. A great one put there by some really expert mechanics is on my website, there are good ones here too. Lots of help on that issue. Don't drive on any dusty roads with that cover on. Since the air under the hood is sucked into the engine due to negative pressure created by engine operation, whatever road grime that is under the hood is going right into the engine through those vents. It is why they only made that cover for a year and a half. But you know that, and probably only drive your truck on nice days on paved roads so you are fine. If you lived in Kansas, that wouldn't work AT ALL. Here, the paved roads have dirt on them due to the wind and topsoil erosion. Many a vented cover here has duct tape on them. I would love to 'load up the truck and move to Beverly', but I am too lazy.

Here is a valve lash adjustment procedure in Stovebolt.com Tech Tips.

Here is an adjustment procedure I wrote-up many years ago.

If you remove the rocker arm assembly, be sure to mark/label the parts and keep them in order.

Also, if there is an indentation on the "mating face" on the rocker-arms (where they push the top of the valves), you should grind and polish the mating surface until it is smooth.

Good luck,

Good stuff all.....my almost 90 year old uncle maintains that us " kids" think we need to adjust valves just for something to do ha ha. He says that he worked on many a 216 and early 235 engines with solid lifters and they went over 100k miles and never did a valve adjustment once .....he says leave them alone "they are all suppose to wear together". ...Thought I'd pass this along he's almost blind so he will not be helping me to adjust the valves on our 235. His drove his old 48 3100 forever all I ever saw him do was add oil... not change oil just add oil! Must have been some miracle oil back then...!
Thanks , Steve

52 Carl -- i guess you are correct -- heated discussion -- 235 --
should be blue to recognize that it is a 235 unless someone wants it to be something else -- from inline 216 -- Beck's--

Valve lash and grinding surface of rocker -- do you realize that those are cut at a 2 degree so they will not run off the top of the valve stem-- it will keep popping back in place if it solid lifters --it will not if hydraulic-- good luck on dropping a valve if cut wrong- usually bad on the ones that are spring fed to the standoff -- Beck's

I cannot figure what part of your posts are quotes from Beck's.
The first quote is wrong information, the second quote might not be so important with a truck engine.

Not all 235s were painted blue.
No truck 235s were painted blue (until maybe a few examples in the few 1959 /1960 and later truck engines that came with a Powerglide transmission)

Not all 235 were high pressure engines.
None of the low-pressure 235s (1953 and earlier car or truck 235s) were painted blue.
Steve, all 1954 truck 235 truck engines were painted gray.

Not all 235s had hydraulic lifters (but that Beck's comment is interesting). I carefully grind the rocker-arm mating-surface on mechanical lifter engines (235/261) to match the original contour. I bet that careful grinding is safer/better than using rocker arms that have 1/8"-1/4" indentations in the mating surface?

Until 1956, only Powerglide-equipped car 235 engines used hydraulic lifters (except for the Corvette 235). All 1956 and later car 235 engines used hydraulic lifters. Almost no 1941-1962 truck 235 engines used hydraulic lifters (except maybe the few that had a Powerglide transmission).

The original poster should post the Engine Serial Number (pressed into the block to the rear of the distributor) and we might be able to help ID the engine. That warning from Beck's might be pertinent with a car 235 engine.

It's not.
I have been hand refacing all solid and hydraulic lifter rocker arms for about 30 years and have not seen any problem (and I have done a lot). If enough angle in the wrong direction is ground, I can in theory see where this could happen.

Are vented valve covers a hard thing to find? I tossed out 3 of them thinking no one would use them. Regarding the rocker tips being refinished....im rebuilding a 261 and my rocker tips show some wear and i was wondering if i should try to hand file them just a bit trying to keep the curve they have and to remove the ever so slight wear from the valve stem.

I was thinking about possibly setting up a jig to assist in trying to keep it uniform across the face and allow it to pivot slightly to help keep the convex face.

Rocker arm pad to valve tip is one of the highest contact stress interfaces in the engine, though on these old powerplants less so.

I wouldn't recommend hand filing - small errors could easily spike the stress or create an edge load condition.

If you do go ahead and do the work by hand, check the valve tip after running to confirm that the contact patch has not moved to the corner break on the valve tip.

Bill

I once saw a grinder attachment for resurfacing the rocker arm to valve face. It had an articulated arm that preserved the face shape. I do not have one of those. I do use a stone(knife sharpener type) to clean up those faces. And I take care to keep the profile as close to the original as I can. The issue that might come about is if the outer tip is damaged. It would be unwise to shorten the rocker. BDammers47 has posted why. If the top of the valve stem is worn(seen that too) the valves are not so expensive as to make it worthwhile to trim that. Just replace.

If that Cheapo Junk valve cover is just that,Make it a sacrificial lamb and cut the top off to use as a Temporary cover to adjust the valves.
I made one Years ago from an old dented/rotted cover that was getting tossed anyway.
Keeps the oil in the engine,making for a neater less sloppy job with less cleanup after!
regards,
steve sr.

The non-running warmed-up engine technique is neat (less sloppy) and easy (for mechanical lifters - Steve's engine).

No clean-up needed.

Good tip for adjusting hydraulic lifter engines while its running (if that is your method of choice).
Carl

Vented valve cover ...yes, all paved roads no dirt roads. Valve adjustment ..yes to get it hot and adjust not running for my solid lifters. I like blue engines like a blue flame 235 key word blue. Vented cover was hard to find..at least for us thats why we took a chance and bought one. Tim has great insight to these old engines his advice is always right on...thanks Tim
Steve

Steve, did your vented valve cover come off a regular car engine, or a Corvette engine?

I also agree with you that the vented cover is hard to find.
They had a short production run, and some 54/55st owners get/got rid of them (thinking it will result in a noticeably cleaner engine).

I buy them when I see them (or, I trade an unvented for a vented).

Hey I was not trying to dissuade Anyone from static or mechanically setting valve lash.
Sorry if someone took what I was spouting the wrong way.
I was only trying to show a good way of turning a piece of Total Scrap Metal into a Cheap and Useful Tool!
Rant over,
steve sr.

No problem, Steve

I have seen people do it both ways, and I have done it both/all ways: a warmed static engine, and a warmed running engine (with and without the cut-open valve cover - which is much less messy).

Some of were commenting on the 54/55 valve cover not being scrap. That style cover has more value than the much more common non-vented 235/261 valve covers.