So long story short, the valve cover gasket on my buddys 00 leaks pretty bad and I got a smoking deal on a brand new one so I picked it up for him. The problem is, the new gasket looks ALMOST identical to his valve cover but, it's not exactly the same. I know at some point, the gasket design changed but, I'm not exactly sure what year that was. I think the gasket is from a 95 if that helps. My question would be, has anyone taken an older model gasket and made it work on a newer motor?

As far as I remember for '96 or so the VC changed and the gasket was modified to accomodate some torque-limiting inserts. My advice is to not hodge-podge it and get the correct model Fel-Pro PermaDry Plus. Should never leak again!