Stupid question lol

ok i feel it stupid question but on the CA20E motors i thought i read somewere they said the black valve cover motors were a bit better then the silver? idk any info would be good.Thanks

The black cover a.k.a. early generation use solid lifter... it is better for performance, but you need to use shim of different thickness to set the valve lash (mean you have to adjust them every ones in a while)  The silver cover came in late gen (around 86.5, but like everything else, opening an 86 hood is like opening your Birthday present, you never know what you'll find)... they use hydraulic valve lifter, which means the valve lash is adjust by oil pressure... you never have to adjust valve lash, but when your valves start ticking, its a lot more expensive then just changing the shims, you have to change the whole lifter....  I do believe that some more things are different between both engine variant, like the distributor and maybe some random stuff like water temp sender and such, but overall, it' mainly the valve lifter that are different....