Check the Bolt Pattern First

The valve covers on this page are split by engine era, and the 9-bolt-hole covers are called out by name. Before you order on colour, confirm which cover your engine takes — a cover that does not match the bolt pattern is the most common return on this page, and it is entirely avoidable.

Covers

For the 1985-1995 22R, 22RE and 22RTE the 9-bolt covers come in red, black and polished silver. There is also a plain red and black option.

For the 1975-1984 20R and 22R, the red race cover is the one that fits.

The 1985-1995 race valve cover lets you pick the colour at checkout rather than choosing between separate listings.

Blemished stock

We list a blemished polished silver cover when we have them. Same part, cosmetic flaw, lower price. If the truck is a working truck rather than a show truck, this is free money.

Gaskets and Sealing

Gasket sets follow the same era split: 1985-1995 and 1975-1984. A valve cover gasket on its own is available for the 22R and 22RE.

If you are chasing a leak rather than changing a cover, do not stop at the gasket. The billet aluminium half moons replace the rubber semicircles at the back of the head, and on an engine this age they are hardened and shrunken far more often than the main gasket is. Replacing the gasket and reusing forty-year-old half moons is why the leak comes back.

Breathers

The breather hose at the front of the valve cover is the other thing that hardens and cracks on a thirty-year-old engine, and it is right there while the cover is off. It changed with the year, so check carefully: 22R 1985-1990, 22RE 8/1984-7/1988 and 22RE 8/1988-1995. There is also an OE replacement breather hose and an OE front valve cover breather hose for the 22RE.

If you would rather vent to atmosphere than run the hose back into the intake, the K&N front valve cover breather with adapter fits in its place.

Hardware

The factory bolts and washers are usually the tired part of the assembly. The billet hardware kit for 1989-1995 is the dressed version; the standard 20R/22R/22RE hardware kit covers the rest. The valve cover dress up kit bundles the cosmetic pieces for the 20R and 22R, and the LC Engineering valve cover decal finishes it.

Where This Sits in a Build

The valve cover is the one part of a 22R anybody sees with the hood up, which is why it gets replaced more than it needs to. If the engine underneath is going to be opened anyway, do the cover last — and if you are opening it, look at the LCE cylinder heads and the rest of the 22R catalogue while the top end is apart.

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