I'm just curious to see what the majority of you guys think on this subject... do you like your valve covers cut to expose the cam gears or left stock? Which do you think looks better? Let me know, leave some comments.

Scott

 

Stock only because I don't know who or how to get it cut. I'd be too afraid the shop would hack it up...

 

I'm for cut personally, I've done alot in my time so I know whats involved and I think the end result is a nice little addition to the engine bay.

 

How do you do it? What are the procedures?

 

I dont know what you are talking about cut. Can you please post a pic.

CRX Forum

 

This is what he means by cut-- his work as well.

And i personally, would think cut is the way to go, from him at least. If i had hte money, I would definately go with his work. man.

 

The only thing I'd be worried about it how much dirt and debris would get on the timing belt. Seems like that should be a well guarded part of the engine.

 

Maybe he could cut the cover just where the cam gears would need to be seen at. Like, half circle, so that the gears would be able to be seen, but the timing belt would not be shown. I'll find a pic.

 

Here's one:

 

cut looks good

 

Yeah, that looks nice but it takes a little more work, so in order to get that it would cost more time which equals more money... personally I've never actually tried cutting like that. But on to the procedure question, I simply cut off the section at a certain point, make sure its even, sand it to smooth edges and give it a rounded off look, then I polish it up to blend with the rest of the valve cover.

Scott

 

You can look at the polished one above for a good example of my work and what I'm meaning in the poll. By the way, thanks for posting that for me.

Scott

 

is that a turbo h22 in a DA???

 

Yeah, I found that pic in the Integra forum.

btw, SM, what do you use to cut the valve covers?


[Modified by ebelp, 10:52 PM 1/5/2003]

 

Ever see those big saws that are stationary and you pull them down to cut objects? Now go to home depot, they sell very large metal cutting discs designed to cut through steel pipes. Mount that on those cutting machines and cut away. You should have a perfect cut that is straight and looks professional. Be careful with the speed though. If it's too slow you risk some uneven cuts and possible bendings. Make sure you don't overheat the disc while cutting.





len

 

Err...I seemed to missed the whole point of most of you guys cutting the valve cover. Are you cutting just for looks or are you cutting for a purpose?

I'm going to cut mine when I get more aggressive mods on my car and cam gears that are tunable. I also like it cut because you can keep a close eye on the condition of your timing belt.

But cutting it just for the look...

len

 

i think most people get them laser cut... its the best way to go i think

 

The whole laser cutting thing seems to be overkill to me, all you need is the stationary saw and some machine know how, then some sanding materials and polishing materials. If I lined up that picture above with one that was laser cut in the same way, I don't think you could tell them apart.

Although mind you, laser cutting is the only way to go when trying to do things such as the half moon look like above, etc.

Scott

 

import builders sells valve covers already laser cut perfectly for B & H series engines

 

I bet you around 90% of ZC users use no timing belt cover because it rubs on the hood.

 

i cut half circles in the cover and the middle cover, makes a perfect circle. h22 hith a nice jig saw blade and a dremel tool to sand it smooth looks damn clean i think. not easy doing that to a type s cover.

 

ya i think this should be dependent on whether or not you have adjustable cam gears. otherwise that would be uber rice lol
just use a dremel and cut the half circles