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The valve cover gaskets on my 1968 Olds 98 with the 455 / 4 barrel needs replacement. There is a leak especially on the driver side and with the oil dripping down to the exhaust pipe. I have attached pictures of the two sides. On the driver side the valve cover is blocked by the alternator bracket. On the passenger side the valve cover is blocked by the AC compressor bracket near the radiator and possibly by heater hoses near the firewall. Before I tackle this I wanted to check if anyone has done this gasket replacement by themselves or its best to leave it to the pros. I have also attached
a picture of the gasket that I intend to order from Amazon.
Valve cover gasket replacement is very common. I recommend using the thicker rubber gaskets instead of the cork ones as I found they hold up better.
Fel Pro part numbers:
VS50259R -- 11/64" thick rubber
VS13403R -- 3/32" thick rubber
Make sure the bolt hole areas are flat as the covers tend to bend inwards around the perimeter of the holes. Use a small hammer to tap from the inside, using a 2x4 or similar on the other side as a support. Torque the bolts to spec as it is extremely easy to over tighten them and bend the valve cover inwards again. 7 ft-lbs (84 in-lbs)
Changing the gaskets is a simple job, getting to the valve covers is the issue. Best to remove the bolts to the brackets and swing them out of the way. Do not remove the hoses. X2 on the thicker rubber gaskets.
Sorry about that, apparently I made a mistake when I typed it into my engine rebuild part number database. Thanks for catching that, I edited the post above and corrected my database.
I dropped the car off at the shop on Saturday and they replaced the valve cover gaskets. I provided them the 11/64" thk rubber gaskets VS50259R. They painted the valve covers to match the engine color as well as used the chrome tabs under the bolts. Now the air cleaner needs to be painted!!! It looks shabby.
FYI, the chrome tabs prove this shop only knows Chevy motors. There's no need for them when you have TEN valve cover bolts. I'd be more concerned that the added thickness of those tabs limits thread engagement of the OEM bolts and will potentially cause them to loosen over time.
