Just when you thought it was safe………. Leaking again. New FelPro gaskets and new covers and a new leak.
At this point I have a few options still available, but first I grabbed the torque specs for the 84 vette’s valve covers bolt. Now the only issue here is that the specs are for the magnesium covers, not aluminum.
One suggestion I received from another Vette, was to use the spec but drop 1/4 of the suggested torque. Now I did apply the torque setting to the magnesium covers, maybe that caused the crack – I don’ t think that was the case however. Keeping this suggestion in mind I guessed that I should use the suggest torque and see how that goes.
So I did just that and they still leaked. Next I decide to increase the torque by 1/4. And….you ..guessed it…they still leaked!!!
So now I’m as happy as “polecat in live trap”. ERRRKKK….I stole that phrase from a guy I use to work with back in Texas. Texans have a lot of sayings, being from New York, I didn’t understand most of them, but some are very clever and get the point across really well, some are not straight forward and border on being an inside “joke”.
What’s next? I give them a small quick tweak and I check the oil and drive it down the street to a guy I mentioned in a very early post in my blog. Tim Sisk, runs a chain automotive repair and normally that wouldn’t be where I’d take a 84 Crossfire engine, not too many of us Crossfire owners would. However, Tim is good and has experience with older Mustangs and has worked on 60 and 70 vettes – and frankly, that’s got me beat.
They pulled the covers and re-seated the gaskets and it still leaked. Now if read all the blog entries you’ll recall (hey…if you haven’t…go back…there’s some good stuff in there…) that I purchased some additional sets of gaskets, one cork based and another made of metal and rubber. I dropped those off and they put them on …and hey…no leaking…..yet!!!!
So the FelPro didn’t work and perhaps might have been a partial cause of the cracking of the original cover, but maybe not. The Mr. Gasket metal/rubble combo worked.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
