Valve Cover Replacement

[Superfly4943]

What kind of labor and parts are involved in a valve cover replacement? I am thinking about replacing my stock 420A valve cover with a powder coated one, any suggestions?

On a side note, i bought a front strut bar and unfortunately my stock bolts are rounded, any suggestions on how to get them off?

 

[Taylor3180]

Just the valve cover and gaskets should get the job done. Shouldn't take long at all.

 

[red97tib]

I stole this off a different thread for a 4G63 valve cover, but it's the same deal.

Where to start...

First of all, you have to have a complete valve cover (VC) gasket set. It includes
Main gasket (goes into the groove in the VC all the way around the outer edge). I don't see this gasket in your pictures.
Four (4) spark plug well seals (can see them in your picture)
Half-moon plug. This goes into the half-circle opening in the head at the end of the exhaust cam

I get mine at Autozone. Open the box and make sure you have all 6 pieces listed above before you pay for it. I'm not kidding. Some only have the main gasket.

First thing you need to do is clean the VC and especially the head (where you have all of that black RTV). Make it spotless. Use a plastic scraper. The head is aluminum, so a steel putty knife, screwdriver, razor blade can and probably will scratch/gouge the head surface. A razor blade would be helpful getting the remnants off, but you have to be patient and very careful. The corners where the ends of the cams go are a bit of a pain, especially the end of the intake cam which is hard to get at. I wrap a paper towel folded over many times on the tip of a small, flat-head screwdriver to get the old RTV out of those hard-to-reach corners. Check the tip to see if the screwdriver is poking through the paper towel and reposition the paper towel if it's starting to break through. Don't want to scratch that head!

Next step is to install the main gasket into the grooves around the perimeter of the VC. It only goes in one way. Carefully go around and around and around (and around) pressing it into the groove so that the gasket doesn't bulge out of the groove very much (it will a bit, but do your best).

Next, install all four spark plug well seals into the VC. Again, make sure they're pressed in all the way around. Be patient and make sure it's in as good as you can get it.

Next step is putting RTV on. You don't need or want RTV everywhere like you're doing. Instead:
You need an ever-so-small dab at the "corners" at both ends of the intake cams and the cam gear end of the exhaust cam. Basically, anywhere the gasket has a 90° "sharp" corner. There are 6 of these corners. Those are where the gasket might not perfectly seal without the RTV. You just need a small dab; it'll get smashed to fully fill the corner when you put the VC on, and using too much will make an ugly mess. You truly only need a little bit!
You also need a thin layer of RTV between the half-moon plug and the head (the curved part of the plug/head contact surface). Put the RTV on the head, not the plug. A thin bead is all you need. Too much and it will get smashed out when you put the VC on, and it'll make an ugly mess. And you don't want hunks of RTV in your valvetrane. After you get the RTV on that part of the head, install the half-moon plug and try to get the top so that it's not rotated in the socket. It might stick up a bit above the head, but that's by design; it will get compressed down into the socket when you install the VC later.
With the half-moon plug installed, run another thin bead along the top of the half-moon plug and extend the bead a small amount onto the head surface at both ends. You want the bead to extend farther so that it'll seal the spot where the VC, head, and half-moon plug all come together. Again, not too much, or you make a mess and maybe get a gob of RTV inside the head.

If you do it right and don't put too much RTV on, you won't see any RTV anywhere when you're all done (helps to use black RTV so it matches the black gasket).

Make sure the main gasket and spark plug well seals are all still pressed into the VC (they may have popped out a bit while working with the RTV).

Carefully place the VC on. At first, the gasket will not be compressed, and the VC and head will be almost 1/8" apart. As you start bolting it down later, it'll compress. Make sure everything is aligned properly.

Install the screws finger tight. The inner and outer screws are different, so don't get them mixed up. Don't forget the bracket with the plug wire guides under the front-driver's side bolt where the plug wires are routed.

Get a nut driver and start working from inside to outside in general and alternating front/back and left/right as you go and tighten the bolts in small increments!!! This is where folks break their VC, so pay attention!! As you make a pass in a pattern (like tightening lug nuts) the gaskets will compress a bit. So the VC and head are getting closer and closer with each pass, but you want to tighten all the bolts a bit in one pass so that one part of the VC isn't getting tighter than other spots; this bends the VC and can crack it. I take many passes with the nut driver. Eventually, you'll feel the bolts start to get more snug in a pass. Go by feel and get all bolts to feel equally tight in each pass. Even with a nut driver you can overtighten the bolts just with your grip - that's how low the torque spec is for these bolts. When you get the bolts snug with the nut driver (and they all seem to feel equally snug, you're done.

Wait several hours or overnight or 24 hours depending on how impatient you are. It takes a few hours for the RTV to set up and 24 hours for it to completely "dry".

There ya go!

 

[crab1092]

Its very easy to change the valve cover.

1. Remove sparkplug wires from plugs
2. Remove coil pack(10 mm socket)
3. Disconnect pcv valve hose from intake manifold
4. Disconnect breather hose that goes to intake
5. Pull of wire harness of off the bolts that run along the timing cover
6. Unbolt the eight bolts(8mm socket) keep track of where each bolt comes from

Putting in on is basically reverse of that just using new gaskets and putting some rtv anywhere the head isnt flat such as around cam caps and half moon shaped plug.

Torque using the sequence below and in the following torque settings(3ft lbs(snug),6ftlbs(a little snugger),9ftlbs(still not very tight) A torque wrench is best but it can be done without one

7.........1..........6
......4.........3
8.........2..........5

I think the easiest mistake to make doing this is tightning it down too much.



AS far as your strut bar, try using a vise grip on the nuts. It might work.