Dead Reckon

I can't find gaskets for this engine anywhere, all the local places have 403 and Chevy 350 gaskets, but no Olds 350 gaskets. None of their gaskets have 2 holes on the top and 3 on the bottom. I was going to replace them today but when I got them out of the box I realized I was sold gaskets for a 403.

Please help, these things are leaking something fierce, I keep having to snug bolts, and that doesn't fix it completely.

joe_padavano

403 and 350 Olds gaskets are exactly the same. The five hole and ten hole valve covers and heads are dimensionally identical; Olds simply stopped drilling five of the holes to save cost. The common ten-hole valve cover gaskets work on a five-hole Olds valve cover.

Dead Reckon

Thanks man, was afraid to try to install these gaskets because of that. They fit fine, gonna let them sit overnight to seat up then snug them tomorrow at some point, fire the car up and see what it does. Hopefully, not leak oil, I can't stand that smell anymore. I only ahve the one car, and my dads car, the '92 Camaro has a flat, and the donut is flat, and my brothers '92 Camaro which we could rob tires from is on flats... And all my spares are gone... Soooo... I REALLY did not want to break my car and have to rob a wheel off it to drive that damn Camaro.

I was hesitant to use the ones I got fro the parts store because they looked entirely wrong, but hey, they worked.

olds 307 and 403

Cork or rubber?

coppercutlass

beware i have found issues with holes that do not line up i with the valve cover bolt holes. Check them before you install . IN my case i had to oval out the holes on both gaskets for one bolt hole . I did that with a soldering iron ad i had rubber gaskets and then i also had to trim them so they could sit in the cover properly. Just an fyi thing to look for.

joe_padavano

Yes, but don't confuse improperly-manufactured parts with those that are not correct for the application. In the OP's case, any 1964-1990 Olds V8 valve cover gaskets are SUPPOSED to work in his application. If the parts are made incorrectly, that's a manufacturing or quality control problem, not an incorrect application problem.

coppercutlass

Agreed . I was just advising to prefit in the cover as my gaskets has mfg. Defects. I used felpro. I have never tried any other company but I'm gonna buy a few diffrent sets and see what I discover.

redoldsman

I found some valve cover gaskets for my 54 online that actually have a flexible steel core. They are rubber and reusable but I don't remember who made them. I am not a fan of Fel Pro gaskets because they often don't fit.