Valve cover gasket saga

[02for2]

@tjones:

God... I almost forgot about that old brown aviation sealant - that is really nasty to try and remove !!

One trick I use to clean up the mating surfaces is to use a cheap $0.15 bakelite (probably Nylon now) blank switchplate available from Loews, Home Depot, Hardware stores, etc.

Snapping them in two gives a very sharp edge and since they are much softer than the aluminum mating surfaces, you can use a lot of force scraping the gasket off with no risk of marring the surface. Once the edge goes away, you simply snap off a clean new edge.

I always have a couple in the tool chest just for this purpose.

Cheers!

[kiva667]

Well, if the leak starts again at the timing cover joint I'll be the first to admit it on the forum. I used RTV after reading recommendations for it in other threads!

Meanwhile all is dry - the Fel-Pro "cork" gasket came from O'Reilly Auto Parts; cost was around $14 or $15. And like I said, it's a lot thicker than the Reinz. The gasket certainly didn't get cut from a Portuguese cork tree but it kind of looks like cork, in the sense that a cheap bottle of wine from a Montreal dépanneur has a cork-like stopper.

[tjones02]

Based on your word I felt I had to do some research... Low and behold, Fel-Pro valve cover gaskets are indeed cork!? They used to be grey rubberized material with a metal support in the middle and a thin red silicone bead.... Guess you learn something new avery day.

Did/does it have any sort of metal reinforcement, or just one layer of cork?

Parts store link with picture:

http://autoshepherd.com/fel-pro-vs26046c-engine-valve-cover-gasket-set.html

Picture link:

http://cdn.autoshepherd.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/FEL/VS26046C_TOP_Square.jpg

[algon]

I just bought one today. It is cork sandwich with a metal middle layer.

Cork surface has tiny perforations in it (sorry picture is out of focus) Not sure why they are there. Overall it looks a little on the cheapside (more rubber than cork) not what I am used to from FelPro in the past

algon