No one is stealing anything... Removing the cover is a mandatory part of the 3800 fire recall. No dealer would leave them on / take on the liability if the car burned to the ground down the road because they didn't complete the recall instructions.

Plus, when these recalls first came out there were 100 3800 cars in every junkyard across America - these covers were a dime a dozen. They're only worth a few dollars now because everything in the junkyard with them has been long since crushed and most 3800s have had the recalls done / covers removed.

Its a part of the 3800 fire recall. The theory went that under hard braking, the front valve cover gasket would leak onto the front exhaust manifold. This would cause a quick flare up on the front manifold that could light the plastic above it on fire - mainly the plastic engine cover and/or the plastic plug wire separator that some 3800s had.

The root cause was really the valve cover gasket, but even with a fresh replacement in the recall, there's no way to garauntee it would never leak again in the car's life. So they decided to also permanently remove the plastic pieces most known for catching fire so if there was a quick flare up there would be nothing that would easily catch fire above it (the valve covers are a very different FRP material thats much thicker, so not as likely to catch).

It may seem a bit overkill from our perspective, but Id bet they were getting destroyed by lawsuits at the time - IIRC a few people lost their whole house when their car went up in flames in the garage. They just wanted to stop the bleeding and the things removed were just cosmetic items that the vast majority of drivers never even see.

 

I'm pretty sure mine never said sfi turbocharged , Is that a unique one ?

 

Well that is the most in depth explanation for this issue. Learn something everyday. You are correct, they were always laying on the ground at the junkyards, so I scooped up a few for ha ha's. Take care bud...

 

Hi, the SFI emblem I would remove as it is an emblem I added to it during the novice years of my build.. So if you would like the cover, consider the emblem removed. If interested lmk a zip code, I can ball park a shipping charge plus the cost for the cover. Last time I checked they were going for $3500.99, but since you are a 5 year member I would let this got for $35.99 plus shipping, save you a few grand. What?, Im not kidding, yet then again perhaps I'am and they are really going for about a modereately crazy amount as I did not find even 1 on ebay, So time to rub my hands together in glee and start rmy ripper side of life

 

Yeah, before the recall you couldn't give them away. A lot of modded people would even take them off to show off their engine goodies so spares were plentiful.

I did the same as you - I picked a couple up just in case when the recall rolled out. Unfortunately they got completely destroyed when I moved cross country, so that ended up being a waste of time, lol. Felt pretty dumb having stored them nicely for so long just to carelessly destroy them in the move.

 

When the recall happened my dealer saw I had my cover custom painted and said GM would take it with recall & he ave me time to take it off before the service & put it in my trunk. I have 2 covers the custom & the stock as is from Chevy. If anyone does find them in junk yards don’t for the little rubber tab that fits on the back of it so it doesn’t “rattle”.

 

that's where they put mine is the trunk