Hey all, I'm putting new aluminum polished valve covers on my lt1 (my drivers side was bent and not sealing) So I'm putting new gaskets on and they are undersized and I cannot get them to stay put when I stretch them into the valve cover groove. Once I turn the cover over and manuever it onto the head the damn gasket comes off and lays down into the valves. Is there a special trick to doing this? Can I put some kind of glue or silicone on them to keep them put while I'm putting the covers on the heads?

 

Ive read about people putting silicone on the valve cover gaskets to hold them in place while installing. Just apply the silicone, let it dry, and install. Thats what im gonna do if i ever get around to installing the cantons i have.

 

No what you want to use is called valve sealant its clear silicone it dosent harden and its realy sticky some times it will have electrical greese as one of its listed uses. Aply to bolth sides of the gasket and stick the gasket to the valve cover. It will never leak again. I use it on all my o rings and stuff like that works great and you can pull them off put them back on with out scraping silicone off

 

I think you missed the point of the original post, I have the same problem because the aftermarket covers don't have the gasket retaining features that the tin stockers do. He needs something to adhere the gasket to the cover because it is too small to stay in place by itself. The stuff you are recommending would make the problem worse

Has anyone tried using just a silicone bead instead of the using the gaskets themselves?

 

Rtv

 

What brand valve cover gaskets do you have?

 

I completely RTV'd my silicon gaskets in my polished cast aluminum valve covers since the damn thing have to stretch like rubberbands to stay in their grooves. I'll probably try cork ones next time.

 

I have canton valve covers and I ran into the same problem. I ended up finding some gaskets that are part cork and part rubber. Mr.Gasket makes them. I dont have part number on hand though. Believe I got them from Summit Racing.