LA valve covers on Magnum heads?

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Brad54

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I'm thinking I want to put a 360 Magnum in my '73, probably with Edelbrock aluminum heads and an Air Gap intake (if it'll clear the hood). The goal is to make the car a daily driver, but have power, and all that aluminum goodness over the front will make it handle a lot nicer. The Magnum's roller cam and modern head design will make it nice too.
BUT, I want it to look "stock at a glance," which means the right color paint, and those rounded stamped steel valve covers.

Has anyone put early LA valve covers on Magnum heads?

-Brad
 
It has been done here before. I don't know where that thread is, but it's here...somewhere.

They'll bolt on and go from what I remember.
 
Yeah they bolt right up. The Magnums just have 5 more holes where the LA's dont
 
Brad54 said:
I'm thinking I want to put a 360 Magnum in my '73, probably with Edelbrock aluminum heads and an Air Gap intake (if it'll clear the hood). The goal is to make the car a daily driver, but have power, and all that aluminum goodness over the front will make it handle a lot nicer. The Magnum's roller cam and modern head design will make it nice too.
BUT, I want it to look "stock at a glance," which means the right color paint, and those rounded stamped steel valve covers.

Has anyone put early LA valve covers on Magnum heads?

-Brad
Click to expand...

Yes they will bolt up, some have good luck getting them to seal, others always seem to have leaks. I tried a set and had a hard time getting them to seal.
 
I have been running cast alumnium LA valve covers on my magnum headed 360 for close to 35k miles now with not a drop of leakage. I am resuing a set of MP metal core LA valve cover gaskets too.
 
Love those reuseable gaskets from Mopar!
 
My best advice is to put some gasket sealer in the corners, especially those the the exhaust side if the head. It seemed like the gasket (for a lack of a better word) twists in those corners. As I understand it, they are a little different than the LA heads. I also used studs and nuts to hold the valve covers down, I convinced myself they hold the gasket in place better.
 
edbux said:
My best advice is to put some gasket sealer in the corners, especially those the the exhaust side if the head. It seemed like the gasket (for a lack of a better word) twists in those corners. As I understand it, they are a little different than the LA heads. I also used studs and nuts to hold the valve covers down, I convinced myself they hold the gasket in place better.
Click to expand...

That's the way I'm leaning too.
I'd like to get a set of the aluminum Edelbrock heads, grind the face of the heads so it looks like a stock LA head (or as close to it as I can reasonably get), put on an Air Gap intake with the name ground off, paint the whole thing '73 blue, and bury it with stock valve covers and a stock air cleaner.

-Brad
 
Brad54 said:
The goal is to make the car a daily driver, but have power, and all that aluminum goodness over the front will make it handle a lot nicer. The Magnum's roller cam and modern head design will make it nice too.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what cams are you looking at? Most 360 mag roller cams I have found for the magnums are either racing cams or factory stocker replacements, nothing in the mild-med performance range - as far as I have found...
 
octanejunkie said:
Just out of curiosity, what cams are you looking at? Most 360 mag roller cams I have found for the magnums are either racing cams or factory stocker replacements, nothing in the mild-med performance range - as far as I have found...
Click to expand...

I haven't started the hunt yet. The cams in the crate motors seem pretty decent, at first look.
Honestly, my first call was going to be to COMP Cams... I like them a lot.

If I can't get the performance I want out of the actual cam, higher-ratio rockers are an option.

-Brad
 
Give hughes engines a call they have roller cams for sale on exchange(regrind) or you can buy a new one, or they can regrind yours. They are pricey, but arent all rollers. Mag motors already have 1.6 ratio rockers from the factory. Just my $.02
 
octanejunkie said:
Just out of curiosity, what cams are you looking at? Most 360 mag roller cams I have found for the magnums are either racing cams or factory stocker replacements, nothing in the mild-med performance range - as far as I have found...
Click to expand...


On my magnum motor I run a comp cams, it was in my 360 and then I put it in my 408, its not to radical but drives pretty nice. the specs are like .528 lift/.536 exhaust, close to 220 duration on a 114 cl with 4 degrees advance ground in, I installed it at 4 degrees advanced too. This is in a FI truck too.
 
Just have Comp grind you a custom camshaft. You can get whatever your want, and it isn't much more expensive than just buying a shelf hydraulic roller.

If you want to look stock, its worth it to get the heads drilled for the stock LA bolt pattern. You get a better choice of intakes that way.

I'm running some cast LA covers on Magnum heads with no leaks. I'm using the Moroso gaskets.

Steve
 
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