59 valve covers and thermostat housing
 

Gedday, im looking for some chrome or polished alloy valve covers for my 59 389, im running some SBC roller rockers and need taller covers for the clearance and cant seem to find anything on line, also Im after a chrome thermostat housing that swivels if anyone can help me, it must be a low one as im running a tri power set up and it sits under the front carb...cheers

You might be able to use the 5/16" thick VC gaskets for clearance. Not 100% sure..but worked on my aftermarket finned VC's..
Check the Pontiac vendors for T-stat housing..Butler,Kaufman,or Tin Indian..

The most cost-effective (cheap!) tall covers are the chrome Moroso tall covers. They are good quality and nice looking.

Did you carefully look at the geometry of the SBC rockers on your heads? When I last did that (on '58 heads) I had to juggle valve stem lengths and pushrod lengths to get the geometry correct; then had to elongate pushrod holes for clearance.

headwork
 

Hi there, yes thanks for the info, I used plastercine on the pistons to check piston to valve clearance and also had to machine the pedestals down to get the right geometry so the roller is running through the centre of the valve etc, pushrods don't seem to be rubbing but there is not much clearance about 80 thou, do you think that will be enough?

My GUESS is that .080" clearance is enough. But it should really be checked, from valve-closed to full-lift.

Correct rocker geometry implies more than just roller tip centered on valve. In fact, running a little off-center on the valve isn't a problem. It's more important to get mid-lift angles correct- roller center to trunnion center perpendicular to valve stem centerline, and pushrod tip center to trunnion center perpendicular to pushrod.