Replacement rocker cover

Hi there people, I want to clean up my engine bay and paint my block and ancillaries and get some powder coated parts etc. my question is though about the rocker cover, is powder coating or chroming my only option? Is there one off any other engines that will fit that are a lil bit more good, if ya get me lol!? My car is an 87 1.6 carb cabby by the way!
Thanks for any help

I'm no expert so I'm guessing but you have to have the one specific to your engine and not an early or very late one for example.

Apart from the two options you mention above.
Why not have it professionally painted in it's original black finish.
They would dip it in acid and treat it etc before painting it.

Just a thought and I would do mine like that if I could find someone in Vienna who does that kind of work at normal prices!  

I was thinking like a g60 rocker cover with the vw logo on, if u know which one I'm talking about?! I don't know if something like that is possible at all? Looking under the bonnet today I've got a massive job on my hands, probs not as much as some I've seen but I don't have the equipment and time and space to be whipping my engine out for the weekend and sorting everything lol! Wish I could as I'd never be outta my imaginary garage messing with bits n bobs 

87cab_bb said

I was thinking like a g60 rocker cover with the vw logo on, if u know which one I'm talking about?! I don't know if something like that is possible at all? Looking under the bonnet today I've got a massive job on my hands, probs not as much as some I've seen but I don't have the equipment and time and space to be whipping my engine out for the weekend and sorting everything lol! Wish I could as I'd never be outta my imaginary garage messing with bits n bobs 

You said, " Wish I could as I'd never be outta my imaginary garage messing with bits n bobs."

YOU and ME both mate.
Can't even take a bucket of warm water to mine to wash it.
As for polishing well, cordless tools at the weekend and hiding in a corner of a supermarket car park when there closed!  
So I feel for you mate.  

Be carful with power coating your rocker cover, I've heard of some one who had there's done and it was shot blasted before painting and there was dirt/grit in the metal gauze which when it was put back on the car the grit then got into the engine and scored the bores.
I cleaned mine and painted it with satin black enamel paint in a rattle can and it still looks good 3 years down the line. You can still buy new ones if you don't want to paint it.

Yea I did think about just cleaning it up and spraying it myself! And I've rea the horror stories of the powder coating the rocker cover! Yea it looks like I'm guna be keeping my standard rocker cover and painting it myself lol

the g60 and 2.0 8v type rockers will fit the head, but im not 100% if the airbox will fit over it as i think they're a bit taller. the 2.0 8v one is same as g60 pretty much except breather hole on opposite side, bit of a problem if you want to plumb it in as stock since the inlet on airbox would be on wrong side. if you wanted to plumb to catch tank then fine, may end up helping you as more space on driver side of car to fit tank

Hi, thanks for your reply, was exactly what I was thinking, the g60 cover is the one with the vw logo on top isn't it? So that would fit on my head, with the same gasket Orr..? I have a k&n pan filter so there's no issue about the standard air box, but I also just have a little k&n style breather on my rocker breather an it's always covered in oil residue just below it, how do I go about fitting a catch tank, is it an easyish job?

Thanks again, g60 rocker cover hunting begins lol

yarp alloy with the logo. the 2.0 one looks pretty much same but breather hole on teh other side

straight fit with same gasket, though i woudl recommend you fit rubber gasket kit. you'll need to change all the studs for the rubber gasket for shoulderless ones.

AVS sell the conversion kit: (look in mk2 section if not in mk1 section)
AVS Car Parts - [The VW - Audi - Seat - Skoda Parts Specialist]

for catch tank its a case of find one u like with 2 outlets andmount it somewhere convenient, run pipe from rocker to 1 outlet and breather filter on the other outlet. I would keep the PCV valve on the rocker too if it comes with one looks a bit neater plus has handy outlet on it. mk3 have 2 outlets cap the front one and run the rear to the catch tank

That sounds easy enough, so do you have to 'empty' the catch tank out every so often? Also would this eliminate the oil breather from getting dirty etc? I have already fitted the rubber type rocker gasket and the studs anyway so that's not a prob either, you said the cover is slightly taller, does this mean the you have to put a lil extra oil in the engine? Sorry if that sounds stupid, just making sure I have everything covered lol! Also is the oil deflector thing under the cover the same or is the g60 one needed with the rocker?

Thanks

yeah you will do, how often depends how heavy the engine breathes. with a tank it should help stop the filter clogging up, proper ones have a mesh gauze inside to try to catch the vapour kinda like a loosely packed brillo pad some tanks have a wee sight glass in the side or similar, one of those will help with your maintenance

the rocker may be taller not sure, if so it wont affect anything except the airbox fitment if you have a stock one as it hangs over the cover but with a bolt on one you'll have stacks of room. deflector is the same

oil level is low down in the sump, if you have it filled up right to the top of the head you have problems

Haha good answer, like your sense of humour lol! I just meant that if the cover is a little bit taller that means there is a tiny bit more capacity in the engine overall so might have needed a dribble extra oil in, I don't know though, probably just over thinking things lol! I've found one anyway, it's pimp as, it has a little hole on the front of it directly in front of the filler cap, what is this for?

Cool I'm going to look into the catch tank, good info!

Thanks again, you seem to be a source of unlimited knowledge  

no the level remains the same

pics? sounds like a g40 cover if it has a hole on the front?

He says it's from a g60, give me 5 and I'll sort a pic! Is there a difference between the g60 and the g40 cover? He says it will fit any 1.6/1.8 8v vw 

they are totally different fitment, if it looks liek this youre fine:


I see the small hole you mention it'll just be a blind hole no need to worry about blocking it. i did recall reading that its there to allow oil to drain out if you miss the oil filler hole but not sure about that one

one thing i forgot to mention you'll need the later plastic timing belt cover to fit it, this will mean changign the lower cover and the inner metal cover if your engien has the older metal belt cover

I've asked the guy if he has the oil breather bit but he hasn't replied as yet so I'll find that out in due course

Oh right so the hole is there for nothing and I can leave it as it is? That's cool! 

Aww man, I have the later plastic cambelt cover, In my tidy up process I was hoping to change my cambelt cover for the better looking metal type! Oh well, you can't have everything can you! So there is no possible way of having both the metal cambelt cover and the nice g60 rocker cover?
I'm so gutted about that lol

The guy has got back to me and the oil breather part isn't included as he's using it on his own car lol! What can I do about this? He said he'll knock me a 5er off because of this, probs guna cost more than a 5er to rectify but it's a nice gesture lol

87cab_bb said

The guy has got back to me and the oil breather part isn't included as he's using it on his own car lol! What can I do about this? He said he'll knock me a 5er off because of this, probs guna cost more than a 5er to rectify but it's a nice gesture lol

Did he say that in the advert or at any other time, apart from just now?

The breather part isn't in the picture and isn't listed so he's doing no wrong…the two pics I put on are his pics of the one I'm buying like