Thank you Steve. Much credit to Jimmy White & Matt Proctor. Coming from a man of your skills that means a lot. Terry
I've been looking for some valve covers for the Cadillac motor to clear my roller rockers, the only ones that do the job are the fabricated type, MTS Cadillac sell them but at $400 i thought they were a tad expensive I found a company on Ebay cheaper but they were real thin 16swg ally and really poorly made so decided to make some My mate folded the ally sheet for me at work so all i had to do was make up the fixing bolt sleeves and weld them together. I was going to get another mate to do the welding as i very rarely do Aluminium so i'm not as good at it, anyway i was impatient and wanted to see them done so the Tig was sparked into life, for those that are interested i used a 2.4mm rod with a 2.4mm tungsten for the main part and a 1.6mm tungsten for around the bolt holes, It came out ok and better than i thought it might !!! They are going to be polished anyway. I scored some original 60's Offenhauser NOS breathers off ebay US, there will be some people that think fabbed valve covers are not in keeping but I think thats the sort of thing they would of done if they couldn't get something way back then. Offenhauser must of had funny rulers back in the day because the measurements on the instructions are not the same as on the breathers
Are you going to grind the welds smooth or polish them like they are. If the welds were invisible and the covers polished they wood look like a simple casting. Just a thought.
Hotrodders used to have a "do what it takes" at***ude, and racers still do. It seems that some have reached a point today where they want things to resemble what was around in the 50's and 60's, and don't approve of non traditional options. I like the valve covers and agree that they reflect what hotrodders would have made if they couldn't buy it. I'm all for traditionala, but a little compromise for performance is a good thing too.
You don't miss much Claymore Its something i'm working on to go around the front panel cutouts where the shackle are.
Wotcha mate, hows that english wheel working out ??? Havn't decided yet how to polish the covers, I might even paint them yet.
Hey Tom, hows it hanging mate, I do apologize for not emailing you, everytime i think i must email Tom something distracts me
Where did the tradition come from??? That's right creative minded individuals, solving mechanical issues. Your a Hot Rodder. I like 'em, screw the establishment.
I'm behind you all of the way Steve, you have some outstanding skills and thoughts which have impressed me greatly. Keep up the good work!
Those valve covers look great, Steve. I wonder how many people who might say otherwise could even begin to make something like them from scratch? Don
In all honesty, I haven't touched the wheel since I made it, at the time it was more to see if I could build it, a personal project for me, but it will get used, I can guarantee that. Just need some spare time to learn to drive it, hopefully before I really need to make a panel with it. Keep that Willys happening, it's awesome.
Those covers ground and polished will look cool, screw the traditional police. Even if you can buy some, if you can build them that nice you should!
Great work as usual, if someone wants condemn that beautiful homebuilt ride as not traditional........................they can just skip the posts................its like saying they don't like what is on tv, when they are sitting with the remote in their hand. Of course that means they are a couch potato, and not in the garage building a hot rod!