Subtle valve cover differences

[bob02]

I’m about to replace my valve cover with a spare that I had lying around. Had it surfaced and then I wrinkle coated it. While I was sanding the ribs after paint, I noticed 1) the ribs are thicker than my other four  spare covers(5.2mm vs. 3.85mm for the others on average) 2) the casting isn’t as nice as the others( ends of the ribs are sloppy) and 3) the ‘u’ in zundfolge is lower case where all the others are capital.  Oh also, there’s no roundel or date on this one and all the others have those markings There is a part number however.

    Anybody have any thoughts? It doesn’t seem like aftermarket. Also, there’s an early no rib valve cover for sale in the classifieds right now that also has a lower case ‘u’….hmm. 
 

Thanks,

 

 Bob

[Son of Marty]

How about a shot of the whole cover?

[bob02]

Sure Marty, here you go.

[visionaut]

Can’t say for sure but I’ll guess from a later E21/E30 M10?  There were even some lowercase zündfolge covers from then…

 

[jimk]

1 minute ago, visionaut said:

Can’t say for sure but I’ll guess from a later E21/E30 M10?  There were even some lowercase zündfolge covers from then…

 

The E21 covers have a cast in pad where an idle air control is mounted in the vacinity of the crankcase vent nozzle.

[Hans]

Make sure they both sit flush with head. I had one that fouled the oil spray bar at the front.

[Son of Marty]

I think the 76's and maybe some 75's had a roundel cast into the cover.

The early cars came with the smooth cover.

I think, discounting the tii cover, there were at least 3 versions of the rib covers with subtle differences, maybe cast by different sub contractors?

 

I'm sure Steve (conserve) will come in with the straight dope. 

[visionaut]

28 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

I think, discounting the tii cover, there were at least 3 versions of the rib covers with subtle differences, maybe cast by different sub contractors?

There’s a wide selection on display here.  Scroll down for bigger individual pics showing some cool cover differences…

 

Note: DO NOT SUPPORT THIS VENDOR.

 

 

[visionaut]

2 hours ago, jimk said:

The E21 covers have a cast in pad where an idle air control is mounted in the vacinity of the crankcase vent nozzle.

I thought that was only for the injected “i” models…  not carbed.

 

[Son of Marty]

9 minutes ago, visionaut said:

I thought that was only for the injected “i” models…  not carbed.

Probably true, but carbed 320's are pretty thin on the ground over here.

[visionaut]

55 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

over here.

 

Totally agree.

 

My guess is there were lotsa 315/316/318/320 “no i” E21 M10s built by BMW for RoW with regular “no-pad” covers tho’…

 

M10 parts have been flowing all around the globe forever…  why not valve covers?  😋

 

[TobyB]

There's a decade- old thread about this that I'm too lazy to go searching for...

 

there are roughly a dozen variants, and each one has an identifying feature or 2.

I've got half a dozen, and I don't think any 2 are exactly alike.

 

t

['76mintgrün'02]

 

 

[Conserv]

5 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

I think the 76's and maybe some 75's had a roundel cast into the cover.

The early cars came with the smooth cover.

I think, discounting the tii cover, there were at least 3 versions of the rib covers with subtle differences, maybe cast by different sub contractors?

 

I'm sure Steve (conserve) will come in with the straight dope. 

Uhhh….

 

Well… I recall a thread on ribbed vs. un-ribbed valve covers and an earlier thread on different styles of ribbed valve covers. And, yes, there were at least 3 versions of ribbed covers. But I don’t recall many details beyond the large roundel on 1975-76 covers. Below is my ‘76’s original valve cover — it’s even got the “umlaut” and lower case “undfolge”! Sehr gut!
 

I don’t recall, however, ever discussing rib widths. So that’s another feature to possibly distinguish additional versions. To be honest, however, I wouldn’t be shocked if different width ribs were cast alongside each other, perhaps some molds were newer, or older, or produced by a different manufacturer.

 

The first thing I’d do, of course, is sort them by casting date. I’ve not yet seen a ribbed valve cover without a casting date. But I’m not seeing one on one of the covers shown above. Is that correct?

 

I’d like to see if I can find that old thread.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

[Conserv]

4 hours ago, visionaut said:

There’s a wide selection on display here.  Scroll down for bigger individual pics showing some cool cover differences…

 

Note: DO NOT SUPPORT THIS VENDOR.

 

 

 

Holy crap! If @DenverTii had shown the face AND underside of each of his valve covers, we’d probably have The Complete Story of Valve Covers!
 

Regards,

 

Steve