spiderhole

The passanger side has lots of fun looking stuff to move out of the way. Is there any easy method of getting at that cover? Are there any special steps that have to be followed, or anything that has to be drained, or should not be disconnected? Thanks

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Not really....

Rotate all hardware counterclockwise to remove. Installation is the reverse of removal.

Patience is your friend: might be alot of turning of hardware, but it's not "hard". Just tedious.

spiderhole

Ok - specifically, to me, it looks like I need to remove the heater hoses, and then remove the nut the holds the emissions crap in place. Do I need to actually remove any of those hoses, or can they be moved at that point enough the pull the cover? Thanks

1fastam

iTrader: (1)

sofa is right ,patience is needed.i always un hook the neg battery cable first,especially if youre removing both valve covers.i unhook all the electronics ( injectors coolant temp tps iac air conditioning vacuum hose on heat valve wires to air exchange unit) this loosens up the wiring harness so it can be raised up.if your car is equipped with air tubes remove hoses and put aside.now youre ready to actually remove the covers. the cover HAS to RAISED straight up to clear the rocker arms.you may have to bend air tubes toward the fender to get cover past it. straight up and to the front while holding up on wiring harness.assemble in reverse.now the drivers side,i remove all electronics on this side also remove bolt holding wiring harness to intake. remove alternator wiring then remove alternator and bracket going to manifold unhook or remove hose to air tubes.again pick cover straight up and to the front assemble in reverse if you have any questions let us know. you CAN do this ,just give yourself some time to do it ,dont be in a hurry, just be patient,later jimmy

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

1fastsam is right, i got impatient with mine when i was doing it in my drive, i just pulled the hoses, cleared the space and tried pulling it out, but it wouldnt come out and it wqas like 102 degrees outside and i was getting mad so i yanked it out with no problem, putting it back in was hard however cuz i bent it, just do it slowly and remember where everything goes and you'll be alright

oh btw, bending it back is harder than taking the extra 10 minutes to do it right

spiderhole

I took a bunch of pictures, but I started at 9am this morning. I took my time, and started with the passanger side because it is clearly more difficult to get at. As stated, just lots, and lots of stuff to get out of the way. Mostly the wiring. Now, I will be very honest, I am going to be replacing about 3 plastic electric clips. The plastic was so brittle that it broke. Also, the plastic t-valve on the front of the carb broke... I want to replace this one with metal.

Now, since I am this far apart, I might as well throw Chrome covers on during the replacement. Are there any that are better than others. I don't want to have to do this again, so leaks are not an option. Do I need also to seal these with anything else other than the gasket itself?

The old gasket by the way, was clearly destroyed. What am I taking the old one off with?

At this stage also can I change the air cleaner housing out and go with an aftermarket cleaner? Any downside to this?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Then don't put chrome on there. That's just a bad idea, period. Smart people don't use chrome.

Take your stock ones and knock the holes back a little past flat, so that viewed from the outside, they're just a bit raised. If you look at them now, you will observe that they have been overtightened, and the holes are pulled through, such that when you put your new gasket on, it will get smashed to nothing at the holes, and have no tension anywhere else.

Use the FelPro VS12869R. Not the VS12869 without the R; make sure they're the R variety. Use gorilla snot as adhesive. Coat the VC lip with it, and one side of the gasket; let it sit around for 15 or 20 minutes; put the gasket on the VC. Smear thick grease, like wheel bearing grease, on the side tha tgoes up against the head. DO NOT overtighten them!!!! Key to avoiding leaks.

kcb37

If you put aftermarket covers on put on alumminum, or steel.
Don't put on chrome. Looks good, but hard to keep from leaking.
Hey I have some chrome, valve covers, and a timming chain cover I'll sell ya.

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

One, dont use chrome, it never works out well

and two, all you need is your gasket and valve cover, scrape the old gasket off with a scraper or a razor blade, just make sure its all clean. Spray it off with brake cleaner if you want, just make sure its dry before you replace it. Remember not to get any crap in the rocker arm area, if you have just pick it out.

What sofa is talking about totally eludes me, i've never heard of using grease or "gorilla snot" to hold the gasket on, it should be rubber so when you put it on the valve cover it has a bit of tension so it holds onto it while you put the cover back onto the head, just make sure its lined up right and put it on, no gule, no rtv, and no grease. Make sure the holes on your valve cover can properly align with the holes in the head just tap them straight if they dont. Put it in place and then finger tighten the bolts, then torque them down properly, and EVENLY so start with the two outside bolts and then go in and go by half turns the fiirst time, then quarters, or however you want just be sure they are even and you dont have to wrench down on them, if you over tighten them they will squeeze out and cause a leak. Youy should be fine, just use your best judgement and it'll be good

Plus i was always told "The bolts need to be firm in place, not wrenched down and stuck for good" just be sure its snug
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ha ha i like it "dont use chrome...but if you REALLY want to...i can sell you some"

Goonv8

Don't tighten down immediately, work it through working in a diagonal tightening sequence.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Gorilla snot = 3M Weatherstrip adhesive 08001

It's yellow.

It also comes in black.

Use grease on the other side so they can come back off if need be, without tearing them up.

Or, if you think they'll NEVER be coming back off, then adjust the valves while you have them off; follow the above instructions for attaching the gaskets to the VCs; and put gorilla snot on the head and on that side of the gasket as well, and let it set up for 20 minutes or so, and then put them on.

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

seems like more work than necessary, just put the cover and gaskets on and torque it down outside inward, less work for the same satisfaction

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

No such procedure available if it's a perimeter-bolt setup... you just gotta DO IT RIGHT in that case.

spiderhole

What if I want to be "that guy" that installs the OEM corvette valve covers. I want to do something different, but I don't want to cause issue for myself down the line. I get the concept of using the right stuff to not cause a problem. I appreciate the direction.
... or I should just use the ones I have (the ones that came with it).

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

i'd stick with the ones you have it just makes life easier, if you want to "style" them you could sand em down and then paint them with some engine paint. But for the sake of argument, are they center bolt or are they the perimiter bolt style?

spiderhole

They are perimiter bolts. Not center. This is the stock engine (305). I have a 350 in my truck with the center bolts. I am not going to do anything other than OEM or whatever was already on the car unless there is some good reason to use aftermarket stuff. I am not a mechanic, just some regular idiot, but I try to plan and read carefully about technical prodedures. I will use the originals, but they were leaking like crazy!!! Of course the gaskets sucked, but anything can fail over time.

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

oh well my bad, my camaro came with the center bolts as far as the leaks go, if the valve covers are straight you should be fine, the gasket is what creates the seal, i mean if you really want you can spend the money on new ones. In any case just make sure you dont overtighten, take sofas advice, the last time i did permimiter bolts was a long time ago and i had cork seals and just used some hi temp rtv and pretty much glued the seal onto the valve cover to keep it in place, worked well didnt leak either. The grease still doesnt make sense, just scrape any old gasket off, its up to you

spiderhole

Where am I buying this gasket? FelPro VS12869R. Would pep boys or Autozone carry it? I want to get this thing back together this weekend when I retrun home. I will reuse the old covers, but clean everything up while I'm in there. Thanks

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Yes... AZ for sure, I can't recall what brand of gaskets PB has; Advance, or CSK, also carries FelPro.

As for cleaning up, take whatever parts you remove, to the quarter car wash, and give them a good soak in engine degreaser for a while, and then blast them. In fact, unless you like working on funky motors, it'd be a good idea to drive the car to the car wash and do that to the motor BEFORE you start working on it, so that way you have a somewhat cleaner environment to work in. Makes the job a little less unpleasant. (no, make that ALOT less unpleasant.... )