The Ford Performance Etched Valve Covers in black are gonna be an awesome way for the
2005-2010 GT owners out there to clean up and customize a common eyesore in the early
S197 engine bay.
Now, these highly rated covers are going to feature a combination of the satin wrinkle
black finish, along with the laser-etched Ford racing logo for just south of 300 bucks,
while the install will get a soft two-out-of-three wrenches on the difficulty meter from me,
as these do require a little bit of work to get in place.
But what do you say we quickly address the elephant in the room here?
And that is the fact that the stock 2005-2010 GT valve covers might just be one of the worst
in the Mustang lineup.
Just a plain, boring metal valve cover that oftentimes looks like hell after a few years,
with no real easy way to dress these things up without completely replacing them.
And that's why we're talking about the Ford Performance Covers here today in this video.
Now, Ford Performance is actually gonna give you a couple of different options to dress
up your three-valve engine bay.
You have the black option, which was showing here on the table.
They also offer a blue option as well.
Same logo, same price, just a slightly different look for those who are interested.
But, either way, both are more than likely going to be an absolutely massive upgrade
over those factory covers in your engine bay.
But in true Ford performance fashion, you are gonna be receiving a really well-made
part.
Cast aluminum is gonna be your material for the covers themselves.
They are finished off in the satin black powder coat, and then laser-etched with the Ford
Racing logo, as you can see here with these particular options.
On top of that quality construction, the covers are also going to include your brand-new gaskets,
pre-installed for you, can-cover grommets, along with all brand-new hardware again, as
you can see, pre-installed, which is nice because, let's face it, throwing on that old,
busted hardware with these brand new, shiny valve covers would certainly stick out like
a sore thumb.
Now, I'll admit these things certainly aren't cheap at just south of 300 bucks, but the
impact they are going to make under the hood when installed is certainly worth the investment.
In fact, feel free to check out the many customer-submitted images to see how these puppies might look
underneath your own hood.
But let's switch gears and talk about the installation, and you are going to be looking
at a little bit of a job here to get the valve covers in place.
Nothin' too crazy overall, but I am gonna bump it up to a soft two-out-of-three wrenches
on the difficulty meter and maybe a couple of hours from start to finish before everything
is in place.
Tool-wise, basic socket set in addition to a gasket scraper.
A little liquid gasket will definitely be needed here as well, whether it be Motorcraft
or just some basic RTV, whatever you have layin' around the shop or garage.
Now you will need to disassemble a fair amount of stuff to remove those factory valve covers.
Your first step will be to disconnect your battery, followed by removing a strut tower
brace if you have one installed.
At this point, you'll need to remove the factory or after-market intake, followed by your driver's
side PCV, and then remove the coil plugs.
You can then remove the EVAP line from the intake manifold.
Go ahead and disconnect all of your injectors, along with your variable camshaft sensor.
Now, at this point, you can go ahead and access the eight-millimeter bolt securing the factory
valve covers to your engine.
Loosen those up, and go ahead and carefully remove the covers.
Extra set of hands will be especially helpful here as you fish these things out from your
engine bay.
With those stockers out of the way, go ahead and prep the surface by cleaning up any old
gasket material that may be left in place.
With the surface all clean and ready to go, apply a little RTV in the designated areas.
Now, this is another time when those extra set of hands will really come in handy to
help you hold everything out of the way while you lower the new Ford Performance Valve Covers
into place.
With the valve covers in place, go ahead and tighten up all that new hardware in sequence,
of course.
Reassemble all of your connections, reinstall your intake, reconnect your battery, and your
installation is complete.
So, if you're lookin' to ditch those eyesore factory valve covers in your Three Valve,
you'll definitely want to check out these black options from Ford Performance right
here at americanmuscle.com.