Appearance & Detailing Interior & Exterior Appearance Modifications

Custom coil Bracketless valve covers

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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 07:11 PM
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Default Custom coil Bracketless valve covers

I've see the Holley LS valve covers where the coils mount directly to them eliminating the coil bracket. I really liked how clean and nice it looked, but I didn't like the fact that I had to use the LS2 style coils, so I made my own that allow the heatsink coils to mount to them.

A Friend of mine has heatsink coils on his motor and I simply did not like the look of the bracket or the clutteredness of the valve covers. this just doesn't fit my fancy in the slightest



So, the work began. The valve covers started life looking like this.



I took a pneumatic hacksaw and cut the bosses off and smoothened out the casting marks.



For the new bosses I ordered some aluminum stand offs from McMaster-Carr and some stainless steel button top screws to fasten things together. This is pretty much what things will look like. the old bolt holes have been welded up and smoothened out.



One down one to go



To prep for paint, I sand blasted both valve covers followed by a cleaning with acetone.



I decided to use the VHT black wrinkle paint from Advanced Auto Parts and it really did turn out great.



A little closer view of the wrinkle



the paint is now dry and waiting to paint the coils to mount everything.



I didn't get any shots of the painting process of the coils, but I sanded everything down with 220 grit sandpaper. Then, I masked everything off and gave all eight coils an acetone bath. Once that was done, I hung them up with some heavy test fishing line ( just had it laying around) and sprayed them with four coats of satin black Krylon fusion. Here is the finished product. It turned out better than I ever could have expected.



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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 07:24 PM
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Looks awesome!!
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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 07:43 PM
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Thanks, I still have to redo the coil harness, but I'm in no big hurry to get it that done at the moment.
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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 11:02 PM
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I really like the valve covers great job!
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 08:56 AM
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Well done.....
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 01:26 PM
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Thanks guys. I really can't wait to see everything in the car.
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 09:11 PM
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Great mod. Really cleans up the valve cover area.
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 09:16 PM
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Yes it does. Im still up in the air as to how I'm going to run the coil harness.
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Old Aug 6, 2013 | 05:29 PM
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Very nice. I'm also running these coils. There isn't any other options out there while running these coils. Man if I only knew how to weld aluminum!
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Old Aug 7, 2013 | 10:16 AM
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Just go down to your local welding shop and have them do it. It shouldn'tvbe to expensive.
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Old Aug 7, 2013 | 10:38 AM
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Looks good, nice mod! It sure cleans things up! At first I thought you were using 2 rightside covers cause the pics with blue tape on the coils shows the same cover with the coils facing different directions. After a closer look I saw no welds on the top pic. The end result really looks good!!
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 07:14 AM
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There was actually a slight mistake when having the coils welded on the driver side valve cover, I wanted the coils to be exactly like the the passenger side for plug wire routing but the welder accidentally welded the on on the opposite direction, but it really made it look symmetrical with the heatsinks all facing towards the front of the car. Also, there is no issue with plug wire length, on either side.
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 10:00 AM
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Nice work! Would you ponder doing this for people? They send the valve covers and coils, you provide and weld the bosses, you send them back.
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 10:04 AM
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Very nice work sir
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 10:16 AM
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Well done sire looks great, Defiantly looks a lot cleaner.

Trey
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 10:58 AM
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very nice, lot of work!

i ended up making brackets for myself and a few people to adapt.

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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 03:10 PM
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I've thought about it making them for other people, but I had a friend weld them up for me so I would have to talk to him. In just materials I have approximately $50 in them.
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 03:11 PM
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Mightymouse, have you thought able cutting the unused bosses off?
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 04:07 PM
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definitely looks better but thats more for the owner of whoever buys my brackets to decide hah!
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Old Aug 9, 2013 | 06:39 AM
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Ahhh, ok. I was thinking it was yours in the picture. I really like the fact that your able to hide the coil harness.
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