Well, I poured my third attempt at a valve cover today, and thanks to the sage advice I received from Kelly, the guru of lost foam casting, it was an unmitigated success! Aside from some surface finish flaws due to tiny bubbles in my slurry, it came out really well formed, with full-depth fins and nice looking lettering that will need only a small touchup with a Dremel tool, if I was going to use it on my engine. Unfortunately this one was made from an early pattern I made with the wrong dimensions, and was poured only for practice and proof-of-concept. I now have the confidence to go ahead and make new patterns (as soon as I get some new longer router bits) and make the actual valve covers for my hotrod project. After that, I will make oil pan, top crankcase cover, and possibly intake setup for it.
Good for you Irish, that looks great. Being a V8 guy, when I first looked at it I thought to myself.......CORVAIR is upside down......but forgot they're an air cooled flat/opposed six. Now, time to make a big dusty pink mess! Best, Kelly
Thank you, Kelly! HaHa, gotcha Yes, the "CORVAIR" is actually the top of the valve cover, and when installed will be only about 14" off the pavement, so you'll be looking down at it. Now that my new 3" cut router bits have arrived, I will be making lots more pink dust in the next few days. Mike