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.