I have painted my original valve covers and I have read that you're supposed to put gasket sealer on the valve cover, but not the head before installation. I am using cork gaskets, and on my Bronco II I didn't use any sealer at all and it worked fine. Do I need sealer and are there any recommendations as to what I should use if so?
I use & love the Ford Valve cover gaskets. They are a metal frame with a silicone layer on the top and bottom. They hold their shape (unlike cork), seal great without any sealants, and are reusable. Summit sells some that are similar in construction.
I just did this today.. got the rubber fel-pro gasket.. a buck fifty more then cork, and it said right on th box no to use sealer. i also put on a new edelbrock small round air cleaner, which the bottom took some heavy modifying to fit under the hood with a 250 six cylinder..
If you are going to use a rubber gasket, I would not use any RTV. But if you are going with cork, I would. I run rubber gasket on the race car, no RTV.
I have found that cork gaskets last longer than rubber if the valve covers come off often. The rubber ones tend to split, and half the time they wont stay tight. Maybe it's just me, who knows:confused:
instead of rtv sealer i just always make sure i clean everything really, really good. I then spray 3m trim adhesive on the valve cover and line the gasket up. Then just stick it on there and bolt it down. The adhesive keeps the gasket from moving and helps it from oozing out. I never have a problem with leaks. The adhesive works great for when your doing any other gasket to.
