I just had a stupid/cool idea...

[Dark Knight]

So I was thinking the other night (since I'm a gearhead I'm always thinking about cool new stuff to engineer). I don't know if this even exists already or if it will even work, but..... I was thinking about making some clear valve covers for my truck. It would be pretty cool to pop the hood and show off the running valvetrain to your buddies. The only problems are do they make plastic that will stand up to the heat and will the oil from the rockers cover up the underside of the covers rendering the idea useless? They already have clear diff covers, so why not? I figure if you make them tall enough, they wouldn't be affected by the oil splash. Just an idea...

[cable666guy]

I think somebody does this already...steel on the four sides, and clear on the top...does sound cool tho!!

[John Gilbert]

Sounds like a cool idea, but the reality of it for me would be the valve covers would look like they were painted gloss black in about 10-seconds.

That said, I'd say go for it!

[mr48chev]

They had clear ones about 30 years ago and you can probably find some still floating around unused but they discolored rather quickly back then.

[DUTCHMAN]

Saw them on an other forum.

[Dark Knight]

Aww man... I just found an eBay member that sells them.

http://stores.ebay.com/Crystal-Custom-Covers

But $175. That's a lotta money for a set of valve covers. At least to me anyway. But, they're just so darn cool. I was thinking more of the whole thing being clear though. Then you could see the pushrods. Maybe if every engine had them, it would provoke people to change their oil regularly when they started to see sludge build up.

[basemodel67]

I would want a set that were totally made out of the clear stuff. I know they make rear end covers out of lexan... so why not make 'em that way?

[Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by basemodel67

I would want a set that were totally made out of the clear stuff. I know they make rear end covers out of lexan... so why not make 'em that way?

That's what I'm talking about. Clear on the sides as well as the top. I guess they would have to be injection molded or something.

[OhOneWS6]

I think you are at least going to need a metal sealing surface or at the very least some kind of plate that would go around the sealing surface to stiffen it up. Jeep used a plastic valve cover for a few years. It leaked like a sieve.

[treveiger]

Those would be cool but itd be hard to see with the oil splasing on it wouldnt it?

[Shane]

Originally Posted by basemodel67

I would want a set that were totally made out of the clear stuff. I know they make rear end covers out of lexan... so why not make 'em that way?

because a rear differential does not generate the same amount of heat an internal combustion engine does.

[ffk]

my friend had a set of harley davidson rocker covers and a 18" -12" back wheel done on a custom chopper..they were made out of lexon....the wheel cost 12,000.00 rockers were 3000.00 ..we had a great time building this bike..it was bad ass.but the customer wanted a one off scoot ..i say dont waste your money..