Valve cover question

[D S.]

On some early C-3 small blocks I see valve covers on the passenger's side that have two brackets welded to the tops. These brackets have two holes each. What are the brackets for?

Thanks,
Scott Sims
Texas Chapter

[Ken B.]

Re: Valve cover question

I believe that they are for spark plug wire seperators.

[D S.]

Re: Valve cover question

Thanks, Ken. Why on one side and not the other? Someone suggested it was for smog equipment but I see them on non smog Corvettes.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Valve cover question

Scott,

What years do you mean when you say "early?"
They were not used until 1973 in Corvettes.

Patrick

[D S.]

Re: Valve cover question

Thanks, Patrick. I believe it was on a '72 Corvette built in August 1971. Two brothers were showing their '69 and '72 coupes at a local Corvette show and one or the other had a valve cover with those brackets on them. I was asked what they were for and I said I didn't know. The more I thought about it the more I got curious. These two brothers want their Corvettes to be correct so whatever answer I get here I am going to communicate the same thing to them.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Valve cover question

They are for the TCS solinoid on a 73.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Valve cover question

Thanks, Patrick. I believe it was on a '72 Corvette built in August 1971. Two brothers were showing their '69 and '72 coupes at a local Corvette show and one or the other had a valve cover with those brackets on them. I was asked what they were for and I said I didn't know. The more I thought about it the more I got curious. These two brothers want their Corvettes to be correct so whatever answer I get here I am going to communicate the same thing to them.

Note my photo below.
The right (passenger's) side cover may have occasional clips/tabs as you see on mine (one midway, one at the front), though most do not. Those are the only items usually seen on that valve cover of Corvette motors. My experience shows that they may show in 71 and 72, but I don't recall (operative word) seeing them on the passenger's side of a 70.

Patrick

[Joe L.]

Re: Valve cover question

Scott,

What years do you mean when you say "early?"
They were not used until 1973 in Corvettes.

Patrick

Patrick and Scott------


If Scott is referring to the brackets which were spot welded at the top side and top of the steel valve covers, those brackets started appearing in 1973 or 1974 on small blocks. For Corvettes, I don't think the brackets had any functionality. I think they were used for other chassis applications and were installed on Corvettes as part of a factory effort to "standardize" small block steel valve covers. If they did have any functionality for Corvettes, I am unaware of what it was. The brackets were definitely not related to spark plug wire support. All Corvette small blocks use "under the exhaust manifold" routing for spark plug wires.

For other non-Corvette applications, I believe the brackets were used to support thermostatic air cleaners, other related smog equipment, or, possibly, even spark plug wires. Some non-Corvette applications did use "over-the-top" plug wire routing. As I mentioned, Corvettes never did, though.

[D S.]

Re: Valve cover question

Here is a photo of one.

[Jack H.]

Re: Valve cover question

Joe has a point...there are often unexplained 'mystery' items on Corvette that make little/no sense, but they had a real function on passenger car & truck engines.

Consider the 'useless' threaded stud extension on the RH side of the thermostat cover. It served no function on Corvettes, but they mounted the alternator on the LH side of the engine (improved lateral weight balance) while passenger cars mounted the alternator on the RH side of the engine.

The threaded extension on the thermostat housing bolt served to anchor the passenger car's upper alternator mounting bracket. But, that fastener served no function in the Corvette engine.

[Joe L.]

Re: Valve cover question

Here is a photo of one.

Scott-----


The brackets on the valve cover pictured are the ones I was referring to in my previous post.

[D S.]

Re: Valve cover question

Thanks, Joe. I couldn't find a photo when I first posted the question. I thought a photo would help.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Valve cover question

Here is a photo of one.

You asked a question about the RH side and I said in an above post that the brackets were used for the TCS solinoid. The wire loom that went to the TCS had two pins attached with the tape wrap that fit in one of the two holes in each bracket. The TCS was mounted near the front of the intake in 73.

The picture is of a LH valve cover it used a clip that pushed into each bracket and a single wire was snaped into each side of the clip that went to the carburetor.

The cover in the picture is a 73 but in later years the bracket was moved inboard of the oil fill hole.

[Joe L.]

Re: Valve cover question

You asked a question about the RH side and I said in an above post that the brackets were used for the TCS solinoid. The wire loom that went to the TCS had two pins attached with the tape wrap that fit in one of the two holes in each bracket. The TCS was mounted near the front of the intake in 73.

The picture is of a LH valve cover it used a clip that pushed into each bracket and a single wire was snaped into each side of the clip that went to the carburetor.

The cover in the picture is a 73 but in later years the bracket was moved inboard of the oil fill hole.

Lyle-----


That's good information. I guess a lot of the cars I looked at had been "bubba-ized" with wiring removed. I'm glad to hear that the brackets were used. I hate to see unused brackets on anything.

What did they do for 73-74 L-82 and big blocks? I don't ever recall seeing any separate brackets on cars with the aluminum valve covers or welded-on brackets on big block valve covers.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Valve cover question

The Aluminum L-82 valve covers had a special clip that fit on the fins. This clip is one hard part to find as I know of no repo.
The 454's mounted the TCS behind the carburetor so no clips were needed.