Leaking Valve Covers

[Brian Bates]

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to experience one of the best moments in the restoration process - starting the engine for the first time. I wanted to start the engine prior to putting the body back on to check everything before it becomes much more difficult to work on. After a slight delay with a poor power feed to the TI amp from the starter, it started with little effort and sounded amazing! (it makes a difference when you purchase a non-running project)

My question surrounds the chrome valve covers. I knew that they would leak a little when I put them on but I was going to remove them immediately to reset the valves and re-torque the heads. I did not expect the amount that they actually did leak. It seems over the years the ends have risen do to over-tightening the bolts. Has anyone been successful in straightening the gasket surface? The chrome on the covers is in great shape and I do not want to disturb it if necessary. It is a '69 big block.

[Larry K Barickman]

Re: Leaking Valve Covers

I had a similar thing with one of my (69 BB) covers. I tried to straighten the flange and used a new cork gasket but that only helped a little. I resotred to a neat bead of non hardening peratex #2 on the engine side of the gasket. I would not use silcone sealer as it doesn't stick if there is ANY oil on the surface and pieces will end up in the oil pan and screen. (not a good thing!)

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Leaking Valve Covers

None of my big blocks ever had this problem, but I frequently had to straighten small block cover flanges. A lot of times they would get depressed around the bolt holes and would not pull up tight. I used a socket to support the top side and tapped the bottom with a ball pean hammer (round end) to reverse the indentation. Seemed to work most of the time.