I have a 1972 K5 with a 350 4bbl that I use for a snowplow truck. I’m chasing down an oil leak, and noticed the the rockers have worn through the valve covers. This is on both banks, on the carburetor side. They’ve either worn through it are going to be coming through, with it running I can see this metal moving with the rocker movement.

When I bought it, the previous owner had repainted the valve covers and intake manifold. My question is, is there a way these are supposed to mount for rocker clearance? The replacement covers I bought are like the ones on there now. One side has an oil cap hole and a hole for a grommet, the other has just the grommet hole. The way they are mounted now is the oil fill is on the drivers side with the fill cap to the front.

 

They definitely shouldn't do that, regardless of which side or which direction you install the covers. Are the rocker arms stock? How about the cam? What gaskets are you using? The stock cork gaskets are pretty thick. If you're using thinner ones, you may need to double them. You can also buy tall valve covers, but they shouldn't be necessary with a stock valvetrain.

 

As far as I know, all of the valve train is stock. I don’t know what the previous owner used for gaskets, I did order the Felpro ones that are supposed to be 6/10 of an inch thick. I don’t know if that’s the same size or thicker than stock.