2.3L Ford "Pinto" Custom Finned Valve Cover

Thank you for your kind words... it's great to hear that someone gets ideas and inspiration from my works.

Grooves for wrench clearance is of course needed, one way to do it shorter (so it would not create three areas) would be changing side of cover to stronger angle. If it would taper more, so it also of course shortens the groove. But how does that affect to your design? It'll propably create less fins. Do you see it as a good or bad thing, you decide. Groove can't just "stop" and create... hmm...like kind of an elbow, because negative angles are not possible in casting.

Another way would be making beads on the side more wide, so cover itself would be narrower. This also affects, ofcourse, to amount of fins, but could it be compensated with more narrow grooves between fins?

Sorry about my writing and mispelling, hopefully somebody understood this, I'm in a hurry now. I'll get back to this thing later...

 

I don't remember seing any baffeling inside my turbo valve cover I will check before I leave for work this morning. Were you modeling off of a stamped steeL cover or a cast aluminum one? I have a spare aluminum one here I can send you to refrence if you think it may help.

 

Nice design and I can see it being the new alternative. Come up with a matching aluminium timing cover and you have a set !
Dont worry about a hump in the middle..thats the 87-88 Turbocoupe cover.
You need clearence for the upper intake and throttlebody because you are going to be selling them to the turbo guys
The 2.3 covers have two baffles. One under the oil fill and one under the pcv in the back. Either make provisions for these or an easy way for buyers to do it, otherwise they wont sell. The boosted engines make a lot of pressure. Ford vc gasket F1ZZ-6584-A OR F5ZZ-6584-A is the good gasket.

The Esslinger is good and solid with a thick flange and no baffles other than one on the side. The O-ring filler is nice too. I have one at the shop if you want inner pictures of a few styles. If you baffle the inside a screw in style is better than riveted for powder coaters

I picked up a M/T 2.0 set off ebay. I wish I could have used it but the 2.3 is not the same. I loved the vc and timing cover set in aluminium.
I found this on Turboford and will link to the SVOCA.com too You will hear from more of us Im sure. And now I found this site too...gotta love hot rods
Check out my websites.

 

Hi Madadder,
I had seen your website before from browsing at turboford. That rainbow metallic black coating you do is wild. You made alot of custom parts for your car. Nice work.

I would like to see how the other v/c's are baffled. can you send pics to pikesan99 at hotmail? The v/c I have is a prodcution part. The one that says "Ford Motorsports" on it and has like-fins running from front to back. I think its the nicest one to be found for a 2.3.

What is the vc and timing set you're talking about? Do you think a timing cover that matches the vc would look good? I thought about doing a cover for the cam gear?

Welcome to the HAMB. If you haven't done an intro, I'd do one.

pike

 

Interested in selling the M/T 2.0 stuff???
I didn't realize 2.0 and 2.3 valve covers were different. I work on Aerial equipment and alot of the boom lifts run 2.5 Ford industrials (engines look similar to Pintos, no dizzy)......valve covers look the same.....maybe I'll take one home and try it on my 2.0..

 

2.0 and 2.5 stuff is not interchangeble. A 2.5 is a 2.3 with a stroked crank. Those are interchangeable. Late model 2.5 cranks need crank bearing journal adapters to use in a 2.3 block. Sometimes you have to (or want to) use a 2.3 block because they have a dist. hole. Most of, if not all of the 2.5's are Distributorless ignition. So, unless you want to run a megasquirt or something, you need the dist hole.

Pike

 

Thanks Pike......I wasn't sure.
I have access to the coil pack and ECM for 2.5's....but it ends up being more trouble than it's worth....esp. in an off-road rig.

 

I'd be interested in one of these if I could see what pricing would be. I wouldn't worry about the PCV, as previously stated it comes out of the side of the block. I would like to see a provision for an oil fill though. Keep us updated.

 

Off road would be a great place cause then you wouldn't need to worry about the bouncing and turning upsetting the carbs. Any racing or non-emissions controlled car is ideal for Fuel Injection. I took a class on it and it's not that hard if you don't have to worry about keeping a catalyst happy or setting a dash light (bad for getting smog checked).

There are alot of folks who use the low cost FI setups on the 2.3. For the performance and hopefully, the reliability, it might be a sweet fit for you.

 

Hey barn-core. I'll keep you posted. The cost will be the main stumbling block for me too. I don't want hang myself out too far cash wise. The first quote I got was almost $1000 ea for 10 parts including the tooling cost. That thought I said my name was Boeing or Honeywell, not Pike!

 

Ten grand for ten valve covers, Mmmm. Too bad you couldnt be sure you would sell a million of them, otherwise you jump right in. Anywho, I sent you a bunch of pics via email of the raw covers around the shop. TC, ESSY and 2.2 turbo Dodge insides. Tony

 

That sounds a little absurd!

 

Yea it soulds like you got the "I am not interested in working on your project so I will just price it so rediculously high you will go away." price.

Have you had any luck with any other supplyers? Have you contacted Chromed Rat?

 

You might want to try Soligen for casting this. They're pricey (maybe even more than the $10K), but they take it from CAD file to metal for you, and have done stuff for the Big 3 before. I haven't worked with them for years (and it looks like they haven't updated their website since then...), but they have the capabilities. Finding somebody to sand cast it would be a much more affordable option (You could also consider making the pattern directly from your Pro-E file using stereolithography, oversized to allow for casting shrinkage. Faster than carving it from a tree...)

 

I'd be interested in one also, depending on price. I've got 2 cars with 2.3 planned.

 

I'll keep your name handy. I'm still waiting for quotes back from several different places.

I think I have to say specifically that I want to SAND CAST these parts. Everyone wants to do some fancy process to improve the surface finish. That'd be great, but its not cost effective for so few parts.

Thanks!

 

This might sound crazy, but you could sand cast them yourself. You can build an aluminum melting oven and create your own sand casting molds without too much trouble for a much smaller investment. Something to think about.

 

I REALY hope these things get made. I need one bad...

 

Pike,

Have you made any headway on the valve cover yet?

 

Junk,
Thanks for the interest. ChromedRat and I are working on it. It won't be soon though, everything takes time, more than we want, unfortunately!

If you've got an extra $5k laying around, I can have one to you in about 6 weeks. HAHAHA!! So far, the mfg options I have aren't feasible.

I will promise this: If I make one for myself by CNC or some other LOW production method, I'll make sure you get a chance for one at my price.

Take it easy,
Pike

 

Thanks man keep me posted.

 

Any news on this?

 

TJM,
Not much to report. I think I've found a rapid prototype place to make the first prototype (to make sure it fits and looks good) and pattern part (same as the prototype but with shrinkage applied) for a reasonable price. Looks like that industry is finally getting competitive, so by just asking, I got 25% off, then 2 for the price of 1 at that price. It's still going to be VERY expensive for a couple pieces of "plastic" that won't ever see action on a car.

ChromedRAT and I are going to make the part though, so please be patient.

I welcome any other feedback or advice on the valve cover. If anyone knows someone who races ministock, please pass a picture of the part on and see what they think.

Take it easy,
Pikesan99

 

any updates?

 

I'd like one too if this ever happens.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1865438#post1865438
From another thread.

 

Years ago (70s) a company called Spearco made a 3 piece custom finned beltcover, cam cover and aircleaner set for the 2.0 engines. These were featured on several Track Roadsters built by "name" folks and are quite wonderful. I was unable to acquire any of the pieces because they were a side project for the company and only one or two production runs were ever made. The tooling was sold to a guy from England who, I suppose, never did anything with it or offered it for sale only in Europe.
I often wondered why no one then stepped up and remade the same style set for the 2.3 since the 2.0 was only used here for a couple of years and the 2.3 has ended up being used for 20 plus years.

 

That's easy to answer...demand. The demand for custom items for these engines are much much lower than those for a SBC or a SBF or a Flathead, etc... Real low demand tends to equal real high price and those that want, they can't justify the cost.

Glad to see some interest and forward motion still exists on this one. I'll keep watching for updates.

 

Hey Everyone,
I'm encouraged by the interest in these valve covers. I had great support from ChromedRat, but I don't think this project is giong to happen. Too many other things going on right now I'd rather work on. Plus, the cost was too high to justify the return. If (and it's not for sure) I could get $150 a piece for these and sell at least 100, then it would make sense. Less than that and it's alot of work for not much.

Shoot me a message if you want to know the details. Good luck to all the other PINTO rodders out there. I think there are more of us out there!
Pike

 

Try Merc Cruser For A cover. I have a 26 dirt track T with a chevII 4cyl. I ysed Merc stuff for valve cover and side cover. Don't know if the 2.3 was used for i/o motor but you might contact the boat guys.
dirt t