I saw a post by someone about their dirty engine and a leaky fuel pump looking like an oil leak!

I can not find that post, but whoever it was I hate you!!

I thought a look at my Glassnose was in order and noticed the engine is really dirty and a drop of oil on my brand new exhaust pipe. Investigation revealed the valve cover had a minor leak. I thought I could change gaskets in about an hour.

The bolts were so tight the gaskets were smashed and split. What seal there was, was metal to metal!

The new Gaskets did not fit my valve covers, the bolt holes were correct but the holding tabs were in the wrong place. I thought the auto parts guy just gave me the wrong gaskets. Seems there is only one for old 454 engines, so I had to cut off the tabs and glue the gaskets on the covers so I could install them.

My bet is not only did GM use its Junior Engineers for the P30 but also parts that were rejected by other GM models.

So multi-trips to the auto parts store, lots of cussing and 4 hours later my one hour job is half complete..

Next time I leave the engine dirty..I love this machine

Long shot guess, would be this member if I logged all the information into the hard drive that sits on top of my shoulders. Try checking posts from his profile page.

Yes Kevin it was that fellow, post on 9/26 Hate was to strong of a word. He probably saved me a bigger problem.

Finished the valve cover gaskets, I had to tighten the bolts tighter than I wanted, to stop leaking. Hope I did not split the rubber gaskets. If I ever replace them again, I think I will go to the hot rod guys and see if the make silicone gaskets. Anyone know??

What torque did you use on the valve cover?

I really do not know what torque I used. I initially set my slip wrench. Ran the engine till warm. Kept increasing the slip pressure on all the bolts until the leaks stopped. Probably not the best method, but the bolts are only 1/4 20 and only 7 per valve cover.

One problem is the cheap sheet metal valve covers. They can easily warp out of plane and also tend to get dimples where the bolts were overtightened. I always used a peen hammer to flatten and straighten the cover along the straight flat edge of the bench.

Best fix is a set of cast aluminum covers. Even a cheap set will be thicker and stiffer. They do make silicone gaskets but with straight covers they will seal well with any gaskets.

Torque is really low like 6-8 lb/ft. I found they were almost always more than that, hence the dimples.

Amen to that. On our old Volvos, each valve cover screw had a triangular shaped spacer underneath the head of the bolt that spread the force out to prevent those dimples. Even with that, over tightening could cause problems.

Hate is such a strong word. Maybe you should come to Ohio and replace my valve covers so we can make up! LOL I'm still tracing leaks, I think the pump is good to go but am getting drips out of one or both of the oil cooler lines that I don't think is coming from above. Of course no one makes a line for it that I can find so I guess I will have to take 'em off and take to a hydraulic shop but maybe i should wait to see if it is a valve cover leak that stops when you replace it this weekend in Ohio.

So I only work on glassnose,but I will be happy to drink beer and watch you !

I did put a straight edge over the holes they were pretty flat, strong valve cover. So maybe I should say a knd word about the P30 Engineers,,,,,,,,naw!,

Another thing the gaskets are at least .75 in wide, however there are places on the head that are about .187 in wide and of course they are the lower edge on head, most likely place to leak!