Valve cover gasket sealing

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Apr 05, 06 7:48 pm

anyone had problems sealing alloy valve covers?

I`ve got an interference with the manifold (Performer) when bolting up.

After scratching my head for a while looks like the grinder will have to come out to finesse the alloy cover edge. Got some thicker gaskets coming from Wil, so will hold out.
On close inspection the old tin covers have also been cut around the contact areas. Is this a common prob with Performer manifolds?

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Wed Apr 05, 06 8:43 pm

Yes I've had that problem with small blocks, bevelling the manifold would be better than grinding the cover but either will do the trick. Using 2 gaskets might space the cover up enough to clear as well.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Wed Apr 05, 06 9:34 pm

You need nice thick rubber or rubberised gaskets. Non of that cork rubbish.

Stick/seal them to the valve cover (not to the head) so they don't slip out of place when installing and also improve the oil sealing.

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Wed Apr 05, 06 9:38 pm

Cometic are very good! (?1 off me next bill, Wil!

)

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Apr 05, 06 9:48 pm

you got it Sir

posted this morning Neil btw

also cometics will stand 2 stacked with no silicon

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Apr 06, 06 8:16 am

cheers Neil, I`ll give them ago

. If they will stack I might try another set as well. Must admit, I`m reluctant to grind either covers or manifold, but covers are the easy choice as it can be done on the bench. The area on the manifold is very close to the gasket seat, plus I don`t want metal filings going everywhere.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Apr 06, 06 8:27 am

Gaskets are 3/16th Neil and they won't squash, you ought to have em today

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Apr 06, 06 11:32 am

well the old rubber ones I have are 0.12", the cork ones are 0.135 so Cometic 3/16" is 0.1875", so we`ll see if that`s enough lift.

nearly there though

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Apr 06, 06 11:36 am

Wow!

Looks a LOT cleaner than it did before mate.

Did you fit a cam?

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Apr 06, 06 11:53 am

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Thu Apr 06, 06 1:17 pm

I used reusable gasket from Wil, The rocker covers have been off at least half a dozen times and they still seal good.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Thu Apr 06, 06 5:28 pm

Fitting Alloy rocker covers can be problematic as the raised edge on some heads where the cover gasket seals is not flat . Nowhere even close. When I tried it i had about 1/8 gap at each end of the cover , using an original 383 head .

This is not a problem with steel covers as the cover distorts to fit.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Apr 07, 06 12:53 am

Steve the cometics are indefinetely reusable as in buy one set for the rest of your life

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Apr 07, 06 8:12 am

Cometics are on

(cheers Wil). The extra thickness lifted the covers away from the manifold, but I still had to carefully hand file the two protruding bosses on the manifold a little on one side. Two gaskets together would have worked but looked a bit silly as the covers looked like they were floating over the heads.