Valve Cover Bale Trivia

[Alan Hall]

In going through a stack of valve cover bales, I appear to have four types and hoping some of our experts can help me identify when they were used. The first (A) is a bale that is for a shorter valve cover and I assume is for early 1100 engines, the second (B) does not have a bow across the bale to help in pulling it of the valve cover, any idea when these were used? The third (C) has a more rounded interface with the valve cover and the fourth (D) has a flatter interface. Types C and D are both pretty common but I don't know which was earlier and which was later and when the change occurred. Any help there?
Thanks

[Brad Ripley]

Talk about Trivia ........ Surprisingly, there is only one part number for these valve cover bales -- from the earliest thru 912: 369 04 240 -- the "369" prefix started with the earliest 356 in 1950. Alan shows bale heights, A thru C, by my measurements off Alan's photo: 75, 85, 85, 80. Surely, there was more than one vendor for these bales and the same for the various valve covers -- which probably explains the slight differences in designs. Maybe also there were slight difference in the thickness of the wire.

[Mike Wilson]

Interesting nothing mentioned in Brett's book either. Ah...the minutia...

Mike