valve cover gaskets

I like reusable silicone gaskets from aircooled.net Follow their instructions.

Unfortunately, aircooled.net is pretty much out of business.

I too like the fabric-reinforced silicone gaskets.

Does someone else make them

https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/....cfm?ID=113101481FSI

@Michael McKelvey posted:

Unfortunately, aircooled.net is pretty much out of business.

I too like the fabric-reinforced silicone gaskets.

I have wondered what happened to aircooled.net??  They were a good source for parts.

There is a thread about it on thesamba.com

The way I do gaskets, they don't leak. First make sure you have decent wire bale pressure against the valve cover or slightly bend.  Clean any old gasket and oil from valve cover with brake clean or lacquer thinner.  Laying the cork/ rubber combo gasket on a piece of cardboard, I lightly coat the gasket on one side with high temp  RTV and affix that side to the valve cover. be careful that you do not dislodge the gasket from the valve cover edge when securing it to the head with the wire bale. Now tap the valve cover with a rubber mallet in couple of places on the valve cover to seat it.... Works every time .

Alan has it right. I use contact cement though instead of RTV, but I'm using cast aluminum covers. Contact cement melts off easily with a little brake cleaner. I haven't changed my gaskets since 2018 when I rebuilt the top end.

It's also of note that the cork and rubber gaskets always seem to be just a tad too big to properly fit the cover, especially in hot, humid weather (I swear that they swell up when it's humid).  Gluing them to the cover with RTV helps to keep them flatter and more in place while assembling them to the heads.  More valve cover leaks are caused by a bunch or bulge in the gasket while fitting  the cover on than anything else.

I would add that my VW engine valve covers have a metal positioning projection that extended from the middle of the top portion of each valve cover.  I made a similar positioning projection (from a piece of metal that I welded to the inside of the valve cover) that extend from the middle of the bottom of each valve cover which seems to mitigate gasket warpage or movement at the bottom, which is most critical to preventing oil leaks.

It still seems that no matter what the cork gaskets on my car get saturated and tend to leak between valve adjustments.  So I am strongly considering moving to the polymeric/silicone valve cover seals to see if this rectifies the situation.

@Alan Merklin posted:

The way I do gaskets, they don't leak. First make sure you have decent wire bale pressure against the valve cover or slightly bend.  Clean any old gasket and oil from valve cover with brake clean or lacquer thinner.  Laying the cork/ rubber combo gasket on a piece of cardboard, I lightly coat the gasket on one side with high temp  RTV and affix that side to the valve cover. be careful that you do not dislodge the gasket from the valve cover edge when securing it to the head with the wire bale. Now tap the valve cover with a rubber mallet in couple of places on the valve cover to seat it.... Works every time .

I do the same with the added step of putting a thin coat of grease on the cylinder head side of the gasket prior to installing it. No idea if it helps or not. I think I got the tip from a Haynes manual or something 50 years ago.

@dlearl476 posted:

I do the same with the added step of putting a thin coat of grease on the cylinder head side of the gasket prior to installing it. No idea if it helps or not. I think I got the tip from a Haynes manual or something 50 years ago.

Just re-read that and to clarify, I put the grease on the cylinder head side AFTER I’ve glued the gasket to the valve cover, prior to putting it in the engine.
I use 3M weatherstrip adhesive (Gorilla Snot) and cork gaskets on mine. CB cast VCs.

UPDATE. So I installed cork gaskets with small amount of silicone adhesive. I drove about 15 miles and parked car for a few days. I started car a few days later and drivers side seal left large puddle. So I bought rubber seals. Replaced just drivers side. Applied a small amount of oil with finger to seal like I have done changing an oil filter. Presto no leak. Only replaced the driver side because other one was not leaking. When I removed the cork seal it had become twisted so I see why it leak. Good learning experience for me.