944.0

That's what I do. It isn't vital that you get it perfect. Just don't tighten them as much as you can and squish the gasket out.

BotakBeng

That's neat!

Crazy Amos

Diagram shows 14 screws, there is actually 15. The 15th is between the cover and firewall all the way in the back.

Potatowalker

That's the pesky bolt that was loose on mine and causing a leak that dripped onto my manifold. Stinky. Then when I went to put in the new gasket, I learned why the bolt didn't have enough torque on it - that is a DIFFICULT angle! Make sure you have some adapters for the ratchet, like wobble ends, or universal joint and some extensions!

Also, make sure you have the proper color of high-temp spray paint, cuz you'll kick yourself if you take the cover off and put it back on without painting it!

BotakBeng

Paint?
How about this?

udownwitk

so how hard of a job is it to change the gasket? in terms of minutes? yall have any quick advise on what i should definitely unplug/loosen?

Turbo X_J

30

Marcucco

I believe the bolts on yours will have washers with sleeves that fit thru grommets.
Turn them all down a little at a time in the pattern Botac posted so you don't warp the cover.
You'll feel them want to stop when the sleeve in the washer bottoms out on the cylinder head. That's as tight as they need to be.

Be sure the head and cover are immaculate before you assemble it.

udownwitk

Thank You. i usually do most the work on my vehicles but i took it by a nearby shop my dad uses and they'd change it for $93... but if i changed the damn radiator without a problem then i think im gonna give this a try... havent really inspected everything to see what i have to do. i'll take a look tomorrow...

ZINGGG

For someone who has never done it before, I'd make sure you have at least a couple hours to work with.

Take extra caution when taking out the CCV elbows, they can be brittle and break easily. And you may as well throw some new CCV grommets on it while you have the cover off. Can never complain about some good ol' reassurance.

Potatowalker

excellent advice here! I did mine for the first time last year and both my elbows were cracked, and the grommets were hard as rock. Once I got the cover off, I had to smash the elbows and cut my self on them, then cut the grommets into little pieces and bleed on them to remove them. I was really glad I did though cuz with new elbows & grommets it has a much better seal on it now, and I'll never have to do it again! (cutting and bleeding oneself may just be a side-effect of working with brittle, sharp plastic...)

I did my VC gasket replacement in about an hour and a half, but I was taking my darn time being really careful. (Had to wait overnight to let the paint dry before I could put it back on though.) Make sure you have a good collection of socket extensions and wobble-joints for reaching those back bolts by the firewall - they're a bit of a pain.

I had the foresight to read a bunch of threads on here and decided I was going to soak, clean, and then paint my cover before putting it back on. I was glad I did that too, cuz it runs a lot quieter now - the drains in the cover were getting clogged and now with it all clean the oil in the valves flows a lot better!

Plus I got to paint my VC hot-rod green and now I chuckle every time I lift the hood! Overall, way easier than I had expected being somewhat new to auto repair at that time.

udownwitk

may be dumb question, but what is the best way to get the elbows out? it turns but i'm having a hard time getting it to come up and out.


do you remember where you bought these at?

Potatowalker

To get my elbows out, I put the VC upside-down and crushed them to bits with pliers so the bits would fall out instead of in. Then I took a box cutting razor knife and sliced the grommets out in pieces, also upside-down to keep stuff from falling down in. be careful - this made me bleed. Mine were all old an brittle and hardened and it took some patience too.

I think I got the elbows and grommets from Car Quest, but it might have been a part they had to order from the dealer. Even if it was a dealer part, it was less than ten bux if I remember correctly. I got new CCV hoses too and I think it was still under 30 bux total. The VC gasket I got was a felpro one with a metal core encased in the silicon seal - it was about 40 bux or maybe it was 60 i forget. Hasn't leaked after 15ish months so far!

good luck!