How important is it for the cover to be smooth and paint free where the water pump gasket mounts? It has been painted and there is some rough/ridged/pitting behind the impeller area and where the gasket goes. Will smearing a thin film of rtv and the gasket seal the water pump ok? Don't want to have to do it again in the car.also we are going to remove the inner valve springs per comp cams recommendation for break in but there is also a flat metal spring-like thing in there besides the 2 springs. Does not need to come out as well?

 

I like the gasket surfaces to be clean and oil free. The metal things you are talking about are rotators. You can leave them in for the break in.

 

Ok we can get the paint off pretty easily but how do you know if the rough/pittedness, for lack of a better term,is too much to seal properly?

 

You can put a thin coat of sealer on the cover surface.

 

Use a good quality sealant not the standard hardware store stuff

 

Actually, the flat spring is a damper designed to damp out vibrations in the valve spring itself. Valve rotators are the thick retainers on top of the springs used on some Olds motors.

This is a valve rotator.



This is a damper (inside the spring).