B6D Valve Cover Swap?

[Vecia]

I've done quite a bit of searching, not only here but on the web in general and I came across a few threads on Clubroadster.com concerning B6 Valve Covers and it seams that the 88 and 89 323 Valve Cover is swapable with the 1.6 B6 Miata with the Disti on the Exhaust side. Same for the Capri of the same generation.

My question is this; Is there a Mazda 1.6 from that time frame that has a swapable Valve Cover with our DOHC MX-3? The reason why I ask is because I CANT STAND DOING VALVE COVER GASKETS!!!!! Let alone doing them every time I have to do something on the pulley side of the engine. I would love to have a Valve Cover that does not cover the cam gears. Any help, as always is greatly appreciated.

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

I've seen pics of someone with a VC that he modified. Looks like he too an angle grinder to it and removed the portion that was over the cam gears. It looked like he did a great job and was thinking about doing this as well.

[Vecia]

That's a freaking great idea! I know where an extra VC is right now too. Hmm.... I'm going to check into that. Thanks man!

[Josh]

Yeah unfortunately the DE head is one off for Mazda, so none of the others will swap on. The most common thing to do back in the day was the cut off the timing cover, or modify it in some way. I had a couple variants when I had my B6, my favorite was the one with the cut timing cover and polished to mirror perfection

I guess there is one option... Ford used the B6DE in the Aspire (GS or GT) but the VC was the same minus the Mazda and had an added Ford logo

[Vecia]

Well, I think I'm going to try for modding one. You wouldn't by chance have any old pics from your B6 days, would you Josh?

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

found a couple pics. It was 10sec that did it. Looks good.

http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=90

[SuperK]

you can get a valve cover from a b6t which doesn't roll over the cam gears:






I think the mercury capri as well?

[Vecia]

Yeah, I bought one on ebay a while back after I got that engine but it was the same deal, disti on the intake side (Capri)

I have searched and searched for a B6T or even a DOHC B6 in the 323s and Proteges but it's no use... Can't find one anywhere. Dang I wish I could find one. Well, if anyone runs across one, please let me know...

[youdirtyfox]

I've seen pics of someone with a VC that he modified. Looks like he too an angle grinder to it and removed the portion that was over the cam gears. It looked like he did a great job and was thinking about doing this as well.

I did this, whipped that portion off on a bandsaw.

[Josh]

Yeah you will NOT find a B6 / B6T style valve cover to fit the B6DE motor... your only choice is to modify the DE valve cover.