The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1953 216: Valve cover gasket

Good mornin all,
I am having trouble with my valve cover gasket on my 1953 Chevy 3600, from what I can tell it is a the stock 216 the truck came with. I blasted off the valve cover in a glassbead machine, cleaned it off, straightened the side edges (probably a mistake) and replaced the rubber gromets and put new FelPro gasket to it. I sealed the front and rear valvecover gasket surfaces with black gasket maker, but when I filled the oil up via the valve cover I noticed oil seaping out of the caburator side of the valve cover gasket area. so, before I load up the gasket with more RTV I was wondering if there is a thicker gasket that is available or should I bend that side of the valve cover back up as it was before? It had the appearance of being over tightened though looking at it now because of the acorn nuts it can't really be overtightened because the the acorn nuts bottom out. I'm no stranger to the"Make it work" ways of doing things but I figured I'd reash out to you folks before I did it the ......wrong way.?

I would pull the cover, and look at the sealing area closer. Use a straight edge on the cover. Make sure its a cork gasket and use a gasket adhesive to seal it to the engine side only. This will allow you to pull the cover without destroying the gasket for valve maintenance. Silicone gasket maker requires a squeaky clean surface, free of oil and 24 hours of cure time. When you set the gasket using silicone, put a small bead (1/8”) on the engine side place the gasket and cover on and hand tighten the cover until the silicone just starts to squeeze out. Let it sit an hour or two. Now tighten it up to seal but don’t over tighten. Here is a Permatex website on Ten Most Common Gasking Mistakes that may help. Good luck!

Phil has pretty much described the method I've used for decades with good results. The difference in our technique is after ensuring the covers sealing area is true, I clean with a degreaser then apply adhesive sealer (I prefer k&w copper coat gasket compound) to the valve cover, then place the gasket on the cover. I then apply a film of Vaseline or other release agent to the head (that's been well cleaned). Last step is a a bead of gasket maker to the bottom of the gasket that's glued to the cover. It's a lot easer to remove the gasket from the valve cover at some future date than the head. Vaseline insures easy release when future valve adjustments are performed.

Good Luck,

Ron

The only reason I adhere it to the head is it helps to keep the oil in during valve adjustments.

I have done the same.

For some forgotten reason, I also put heavy grease on the top of the gasket - maybe to seal it (a little) and to make it easier to remove the valve cover (for setting/adjusting valve lash)?

I'll give it a shot, thankyou

The most important thing to do first is to do some tin smith work on the valve cover. They all need it. The sealing area on the ends and the right side of the valve cover is very thin which lends them to leak there.
I first take out any bow out of the sides of the valve cover, then beat the metal back out where the acorn nut holes. A deep well socket and a hammer works. If you don't do this, your acorn nuts will bottom out before enough pressure is exerted on the gasket for a positive seal.
Then use a straight edge to check the valve cover for flatness.
The final test is to place the valve cover on the head and check for gaps with a feeler gauge. This only works on the ends and the right side. The left side has a flange in the way.

If I may suggest, make sure it's a '53 engine. After several failed attempts I discovered what I thought was a "37 was really a '52 and the
gaskets are different. Just a thought.

According to the Master parts list, the valve cover gasket (group 0.423) is the same from '37-'53.
Kent

I ran my block number and it matches with the truck as a 1953, I did push out the mounting bolt holes back to outside flush and straightened the edges prior to giving it a new paint job, I did find that the parts store gave me a valvecover gasket with bolt holes on it... figured it was just one of those "fits multiple years" situations but turns out that isnt the case as a differrent parts place found the correct one for me. I'm gonna double check my cover flatness and then give this new gasket and some sikafex a try.

Can you educate me and tell me what sikafex is.

Thanks Tim. When I googled it, the only thing that came up was concrete sealant products. Your link shows that they also have products for engines and much more.

Well, turns out the parts store gave me a 235 valve cover gasket. I went ahead and got the gasket for a 216, made sure my cover was a flat as Possible and assembled. didn't end up using any sealant yet as the engine isn't going yet so it will be coming off a few times. If it leaks when I do get it going I'll get some sika on it. thanks for the advice all