What does it mean for valve covers to be "baffled"?

confused? lol, just kidding, i have no clue,

It means there are metal baffles installed directly below the pcv and/or breather holes, pull your pcv valve out and look in the hole, if your valve covers have baffles, you should be able to see them. They are there to keep oil from splashing up onto the pcv valve and getting sucked into it.

aha! thank you!

So is it a big deal if my valve covers aren't baffled?

Its not a big deal as long as you have them properly vented
all the chrome taiwan as well as aftermarket valvecovers come without vents.

hope this helps...TI

What do you mean by vents?

sorry I meant baffles

Alright well then how do I properly vent them? Are you talking about the side with the breather?

There is this PVC valve or whatever on one side (sucks air out, making a vacuum) and there is a breather on the other. Are you talking about the breather?

On a vehicle used mainly on the street, you normally have a pcv valve on one cover and a breather on the other. The breather often has a hose connecting it to the air filter housing, while the pcv valve has a smaller hose connecting it to manifold vacuum. As long as both of these flow freely, then your venting should be fine. If one of them gets clogged :tisk: or worse, BOTH, then the pressure will build until it finds a way out, like through your rear main seal or front seal or some tired old gasket, which will then leak until it's properly replaced.
Anyway, replacing you pcv valve and that little filter on the end of the breather tube, just inside the air cleaner housing, can prevent lots of problems. :drinker

Alright, I see. Just making sure. Because I got some unbaffled valve covers. But one side has an OE breather, and the otherside has a brand new chrome PCV valve with new hose going to the manifold vacuum. Sounds like I'm good to go!

hang on to your old valve covers though. Those baffles keep the PCV valve from sucking oil into the intake. If your car starts puffing some blue smoke afterwards, you can often have the baffles cut out of the old covers and welded into the new ones, or just switch back.

if i tac the old baffles into the new valve covers, which are chrome, will it mess up the outer appearance?