VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 216---------VALVE TRAIN BLANKET?

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A FAIRLY ALL ORIGINAL 1941 4DR SPECIAL DLX
AND UPON INSPECTION OF THE VALVE TRAIN ON THE 216 HEAD, I DISCOVERED UNDERNEATH THE VALVE COVER A BLANKET OF SORT? ATTACHED TO THE HEAD? I SEEM TO RECALL HAVING HEARD OF SUCH A ITEM, BUT NEVER SAW ONE UNTILL NOW' IT IS OF A MESH TYPE MATERIAL AND HAS TWO EYLETS TO SLIP OVER THE TWO STUDS IN THE HEAD. IT IS THE FULL LENGHT OF THE HEAD AND APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO SOAK UP OIL .? ANYONE OUT THERE HAVE ANY MORE INFORMATION?
THANKS
MIKE.......

You have an after market accessory for your engine. The idea is to saturate the "blanket" with oil and the oil will slowly work down to the rocker arms and lubricate them.

They were also available for the early 4-cylinder engines.

Thanks,

Do you think they are effective?
and should I utilize it?

With regular maintenance they are useful. They must be cleaned occasionaly and reoiled.

Their function was to soak up noise. Often called valve silencer blankets. I think that they are great.

Thanks Gene.
That is what I thought, because the engine is silent...
I guess I will leave it in place.

I'll be darned. I've never heard of them before. I can't say I didn't learn something today.

Tiny,
I will try to post a picture of it, as soon as I can figure out how?
It is somewhat interesting?

I agree with Tiny. Never heard of such a thing!!! :o But it does sound like a great idea especially for keeping things quiet.....my 48 runs pretty quietly.....but 'silent' would be really cool

Are they available anywhere??

1941 SPECIAL DLX, can you post a picture??

I have seen them a few times on ebay but not very often.

Looking back over the responses on this question and although I've know about these "blankets" for a long time now, I didn't see a post as to where one could buy one. I'd like to have one. Anything to help hold down noise is appreciated. My 41 5-passenger is real noisy even after I've put the door seals on. They did help quite a bit. I bought some jute at Hershey and I'm going to cut and paste some under the floor mat where, after all these years, it is about non-existent. Also, I expect some of the noise is coming from the glass pack muffler. Although it is not loud out of the tail pipe, I suspect that it is rumbling, drumming, carrying-on (pick one) and "telegraphing" up through the "floor boards" and into the cabin. I think a regular 41 muffler will help. I can remember my dad borrowing a 1941 Chevrolet from a friend to drive to my grandfather's funeral back in January, 1941 (all we had for the 7 family members at the time was a 1936 Ford Pickup with a plywood box on the back for we children. The 41 was as quite as a mouse by the standards I was used to back then. Anyone have any experience or suggestions on this topic (muffler noise, not tailpipe noise, etc)? I don't think I can stand the noise all the way to Flint so I've got to reduce the din somehow. Thanks in advance for any info that may help. Charlie

I have run the valve cover blankets in my cars for years. While it won't quiet an engine will loose valves it does soak upsome noise.

That why I run stock mufflers on my cars. I can't stand the drumming through the whole body caused bt the straight thru mufflers. Really hits its peak at 40 to 50 MPH.

Chevgene, thanks. I'm a little lazy tonight, so, in order to save me some trouble looking up all the suppliers products, do you know where one may purchase these "blankets"? Best, Charlie

Charlie,

During my recent restoration of my car, I installed sound deading materials in the roof, doors and floor as well as the firewall and any other place that I could put it. The stuff is not cheap, but it made a huge difference in the noise level in the car. I also have new door gaskets and window run channel too. So, I figure it is as good as it will get. You can have a conversation in the car at any speed. This also helps with keeping heat out in the summer and in in the winter. I also installed some high tech insulation on the entire interior of the car.

I don't know about jute on the floor, but it too may be effective. I also doubled up on the insulation over the muffler. I was amazed at the amount of heat that was coming right up through the floor under the driver's seat.

Rich

Rich, thanks a heap! I'll continue to work at making it less noisy. I'm convinced that a majority of my noise is coming from the muffler. I'm gonna look see if I have one or not but may have to have something non-OME welded in place. Anyway, what kind of sound-deadening material did you use? I'm thinking of going with sheet-rock but it is rather heavy and a little thick. I was thinking maybe some above the muffler on the underside too. But while trying to figure out how to mount/hang it, it dawned on me that it wouldn't hold up after getting splashed by rain water. It'd be okay if it held out and finally dropped off in MI but they frown on littering down here in beautiful NC. But in the summer time of 2011 I'm bound to get in a thunderstorm about an hour after leaving home. I've tried possum and raccoon hides to make a sound proofing rug but they're too thin to make much difference. Maybe I'll go out and try to catch me some of those wolverines folks got up there. Should make a better rug and without much trouble too. (See how I think? Yep, way ahead of some folks.) Again, thank for your response. Charlie

Charlie,

All of my sound deadening materials are installed on the inside of the body. I removed all of the interior and scraped all of the old tar/felt crap that was stuck to the inside of everything. That took two days of hard work to clean this stuff out of the car. The material I used was Dampifier Pro, it comes in 12" x 20" sheets and is 80 mills thick with a heavy layer of aluminum foil on one side. You just place this over the area you want it and use a wood roller to push it into good contact with the body panels and it stick to the sheetmetal. I then used insulation that I bought at Home Depot, it is like heavy bubble wrap with foil barier on both sides. I have two to three layers of this stuff everywhere.

It was a big job, but since I had the car stripped to the bones, it seemed like the right thing to do. And the results show that it was well worth it.

Rich

Rich, thanks for the info. I'll keep it in mind as I go about fixing mine. I don't need it to be as quiet as a Lexus though. If I can get it down to about OSHA standards of 85 decibels, I be pleased. Best, Charlie

Charlie,

I don't think you will have to worry about getting as quite at a Lexus, but I sure do believe that the effort I put into the sound and thermal insulation was well worth it.

The steps that I mention will make much more of a difference than a valve train blanket could ever make. However, it was not easy or cheap, but once I had the car ripped apart it was just one more thing that I wanted to do in the restoration.

Good luck,

Rich

that valve cover blanket sounds very interesting, I would like to see one, or better yet have one

You mean if I had one of those valve blankets I would lose my "click'n".

i have also seen a valve train blanket on ebay...and should have bought it...not so much for the noise, but to minimize the blow-by and oil exiting the vent holes on the valve cover on my 37.

Try here
http://www.billypossum.com/C&P_Catalog/C&P_Catalog_rev_031225.htm

John

The blanket will do nothing to eleminate the blow by fumes as it has plenty of space around it for the fumes to pass by. It will help to keep the oil from spattering out of the vents at high speeds.