engine and drivetrain Can you date valve covers by type?

[Conserv]

Next question: Does anyone have a ribbed cover WITHOUT a casting date?

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Steve

Edited June 9, 2018 by Conserv

[kiva667]

So...did valve cover casting dates coincide with the introduction of the ribbed cover?

Sorry, Steve, that doesn't seem to be the case either. Here's my old richly ribbed cover. I wiped the oil off the spot where the casting date should have been, to make sure nothing was hidden.

[JohnH]

Model '71 tii, built May 73, Production Model Code (PMC) 2582

 

 

The TTS wiring goes under the stubby CCB knub. I recently fitted new wiring and duplicated the routing of the original exactly.

 

Going by all the tii covers shown, this would appear the be the standard tii cover used throughout tii production.

 

All the tii covers seem to have plug/cyl numbering on the lower edge, but not all of the others. Has anyone seen a genuine tii cover without the numbering? 

 

I dont know the cover date code but will attempt to retrieve it using a borescope later on. It may be difficult as I lost my little angley mirror clip on thingy.

 

Another point of interest, to me at least, is the number of non standard valve cover nuts used. I think mine are are E30 M3 nuts. They are the tall shapely ones, and not the short dumpy dome head variety, though I have a feeling the car came with acorn nuts, but I seem to have squirreled them away somewhere.  

Edited August 20, 2015 by JohnH

[Conserv]

On 8/20/2015 at 12:26 AM, kiva667 said:

Sorry, Steve, that doesn't seem to be the case either. Here's my old richly ribbed cover. I wiped the oil off the spot where the casting date should have been, to make sure nothing was hidden.

image.jpg

 

Kit,

 

You're killing me! Can we just pretend this cover doesn't exist? ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Conserv

[tups]

 

I dont know the cover date code but will attempt to retrieve it using a borescope later on. It may be difficult as I lost my little angley mirror clip on thingy.

 

Isn't it easier to just take it off and look ? 7 nuts, literally 5 minutes. It is probably rather narrow under there of a boroscope.

 

Cris

[tisalover]

Interesting subject, here's an original 1965 BMW 1800 TISA valve cover. Mike B's 1800 Ti valve cover is very early, I have one like it that came off of a 1963 BMW 1600. Sincerely, Peter

[jmr_1602]

I noticed some ribbed valve covers on eBay stamped 73.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[02Anders]

As for 02's the change from the smooth valve cover to ribbed valve covers happened at some point mid '67.  There's apparently no exact cut-off date, as I have seen fairly late '67s with smooth valve covers and then we have Cris's earlier '67 which has the ribbed valve cover.

Furthermore, while I didn't bother checking the smooth valve cover on my '66, I did instead check the spare smooth valve cover I have in my stash, and it did not have a date stamp.

When it comes to the ribbed valve covers, they were of course used for the remainder of 02 production from roughly mid '67 and right up to the last one rolled off the production line.  To my knowledge these should all have "BMW" written on them, as the valve covers with the roundel on came later.

As for date stamps, it's bizar that Cris's ribbed valve cover is date stamped as early as 04.67, when many other ribbed valve covers don't have the date stamp.  All logic is out the window!  

Edited August 22, 2015 by 02Anders

[Conserv]

On 8/22/2015 at 9:26 AM, 02Anders said:

....When it comes to the ribbed valve covers, they were of course used for the remainder of 02 production from roughly mid '67 and right up to the last one rolled off the production line. To my knowledge these should all have "BMW" written on them, as the valve covers with the roundel on came later....

 

Contrary to the norm, Anders, I'm not "fully-aligned" with you on the roundel issue!

 

I've not yet seen when the transition happened, but U.S. '76 models came with roundels, not "BMW", on their valve covers. Below is mine, on the car. I swear that cover has never left my sight! The second and third photos are of a spare cover I keep on hand -- in case my original cover, ruptures, explodes, or looks shabby -- and it came off another U.S. '76 and is dated May '76. I formerly thought that the roundel was a square taillight "thing" -- except for tii's, but I can't convince '74 and '75 owners to post their covers and their covers' dates! Could it have arisen with early European carbed e21s, in the last half of the '75 calendar year -- which mostly coincides with the start of U.S. '76 model production in September '75 (I'm supposing that a carbed e21's cover wouldn't need or have the cast-in boss for mounting the cold start valve)?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Conserv

[02Anders]

Well sticking to the norm Steve, I will immediately sit up and pay attention when you don't agree with me...  

 

The short answer : I clearly learned something new today.  Thx...

 

The slightly longer answer : The 2002 was fased out in Europe at the end of '75.  After that we only had the entry-level BMW 1502 which slotted in well below the newly introduced BMW E21.  In all honesty, I'm no expert on 1502's and I can't comment on whether they had "BMW" written on the valve cover or whether they had the roundel.

Hmmm... guess I'd better dive in and do a bit more research...  

[peterschop]

My car has an engine from a 1977 e21 in it. The cover has BMW and firing order but not a Roundel. The engine date has a Sept 1977 date on the head. The valve cover has a date but not what I expected. It is 77/78.

 

Edited August 28, 2015 by peterschop

[Conserv]

But, Peter, the valve cover has the flat boss adjacent to the crankcase ventilation outlet for the e21's cold start valve. That would make me guess '77 or later for a U.S.-spec e21. I'm still trying to determine if carbed e21 cars had that boss on their valve covers.

 

But I expected a roundel!

 

Thanks for posting the photos, too!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Conserv

[peterschop]

But, Peter, it has the flat boss adjacent to the crankcase ventilation outlet for the e21 cold start valve. That would make me guess '77 or later for a U.S.-spec e21.

But I expected a roundel!

Thanks for posting the photos, too!

Regards,

Steve

 

Yes, the date on the e21 head is Sept 77.  

[Conserv]

On 8/28/2015 at 8:52 PM, peterschop said:

Yes, the date on the e21 head is Sept 77.

 

Distinguishing "e21", the car model, from "E21", the cylinder head designation, the earliest dated E21 head I've thus far seen thus was June '75, but I suspect there were earlier examples as the Euro e21 model began production around May '75, and I believe these used the E21 head.

 

My understanding is the E21 head was designed for the e21 and fitted to U.S. '76 '02s simply because: (1.) the timing was right; and (2.) it produced lower emissions, allowing U.S. 49-state '76 '02s to omit the thermal reactors. But the E21 head had a long life, and I've seen examples cast as late as the early '90s -- I presume as replacement parts.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Conserv

[Henning]

I'm still trying to determine if carbed e21 cars had that boss on their valve covers.

 

 

They don't have, Steve. A friend of mine has got a carbed '75 318, and that one does not have the boss. I know for sure because we were working on its (censored) 2-barrel carb a while ago.

 

Unfortunately I do not know if it's got the "BMW" or the roundel, but this can be found out. And it is ribbed.

 

Concerning the casting date, I've never seen a later year than 76 casted in valve- or timing cover solely. From 77 on, there have been always 77/78, 78/79 and so on there.

 

Hen