Valve Cover Gaskets

Taking a survey on the best way to keep valve cover gaskets sealed on the heads.......any suggestions or comments are welcomed. What do you use???? Silicone? Yellow Snot? Someone has got to have a trick up their sleeve.....talk to me! Bear

 

Ive never used anything . I use the Fel Pro blue ones with the metal in them. Same set for two and a half seasons. Kevin Newburgh

 

go to your parts store and get 3M weather strip adahsive it comes in black or yellow we always use black ...looks better... this stuff works, put it on both the head and the gasket and legt it set for a few then put them together..Dave
www.myspace.com/daveloweswr

 

Or get a Miner Bros motor- no valve cover gaskets. It has o-rings instead of gaskets. Dave Germain

 

Clint is selling one.

 

We scotch brite the head surface to get any old silicone or whatever off, then wipe it down with brake clean on a blue paper towel. Then apply "The Right Stuff" silicone to the head surface, let it tack up for 5 minutes or so. Wipe the head-side of the gasket with brake clean to get rid of any grease then install. If I'm doing this at the shop I will then bolt the valve cover down (a little tighter than I normally would at the track) and let it dry over night.

The great thing about "The Right Stuff" silicone is that if you have to use it at the track, it's thick enough that it will still seal on most things if it's not fully cured.

 

Another vote for steel shim,

Speaking of vavle covers, on a lot of heads there is a ridge on the heads the gasket sits on, is not quite high enough to keep the oil from running over the edge and dripping onto the headers. Do you any of you know of any people who have made spacers (and extended spark plug tubes) that bolt to the head to extend this ridge so that you can remove the covers from the top of the spacers so that the oil will not leak onto the headers between every round?

RG

 

Beware of the spacer. I have a 3/8" spacer on my Veney heads with KB valve covers. The combination that I have created geometry issues and I struggle to get the spark plugs in and plug wires on. Part of my geometry issues could be caused by the dual plug valve covers. I would be glad to send you pics of my spacers. Bill Bahl makes a really nice custom spark plug tube that is adjustable for different gasket thickness. He makes them with steel ends so the don't push out. I run a really thin gasket between the spacer and the head with Ultra Max Black and a Flatout steel core valve cover gasket. Send me a PM and I can forward you Bill's information and pics if you would like.