Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

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JLT
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Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Wed Dec 30, 2015 7:16 pm

While doing my customary 3000 mile valve adjustment (which I calculate was around #100 for me), I got to thinking about all the stuff I'd heard about how people apply them. Some folks install them dry. Some folks use nothing but a little dab of wheel bearing grease on each side. Some glue them to the valve covers using a variety of stickums.

I've done all these things at one time or another. My current set-up is to glue the gaskets to the covers with something called "Gaskacinch" and putting a little wheel bearing grease on the gasket where it makes contact with the head. It works for me.

What methods do you all use?
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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wcfvw69
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by wcfvw69 » Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:58 pm

1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:16 am

With a little hello included,
"hello JLT, nice to see you around these parts! How's the VW these days?"
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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JLT
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Thu Dec 31, 2015 4:21 pm

Thanks for the link. I must have missed that one. Lots of good advice and war stories, but no mention of Gaskacinch. I heard about it from the guys at Kombi Haus in Sacramento, who use it all the time.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Amskeptic
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:03 pm

JLT wrote:
Thanks for the link. I must have missed that one. Lots of good advice and war stories, but no mention of Gaskacinch. I heard about it from the guys at Kombi Haus in Sacramento, who use it all the time.
So how's your VW? Gaskacinch, Indian Head Shellac, all the same old school . . .
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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SlowLane
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by SlowLane » Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:57 am

JLT wrote: Some glue them to the valve covers using a variety of stickums.
My stickum of preference is Hylomar. Fantastic stuff. Holds the gasket firmly in place, but doesn't harden like shellac, so removal of the gasket from the valve cover when you eventually do replace it isn't an exercise in scraping and chiselling the old gasket off.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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JLT
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:55 pm

SlowLane wrote: My stickum of preference is Hylomar. Fantastic stuff. Holds the gasket firmly in place, but doesn't harden like shellac, so removal of the gasket from the valve cover when you eventually do replace it isn't an exercise in scraping and chiselling the old gasket off.
That's how Gaskacinch works, too.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by Jivermo » Sat Jan 02, 2016 6:31 am

Gaskacinch...I'm getting a can just to look at on the shop shelf...Indian head I'll use, this is for the "art"!

Image

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SlowLane
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by SlowLane » Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:55 pm

JLT wrote:
SlowLane wrote: My stickum of preference is Hylomar. Fantastic stuff. Holds the gasket firmly in place, but doesn't harden like shellac, so removal of the gasket from the valve cover when you eventually do replace it isn't an exercise in scraping and chiselling the old gasket off.
That's how Gaskacinch works, too.
IIRC, from a can I had years ago, Gaskacinch is more like rubber cement than anything else. I seem to recall that it was also marketed as "belt dressing" to restore grippiness to old v-belts that had gotten shiny and varnished.

Hylomar, on the other hand, is a more modern polyurethane sealant. It's resistant to fuels as well as oils. But it definitely doesn't have the art-work that Gaskacinch does. :wink:
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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JLT
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:53 pm

Amskeptic wrote: "hello JLT, nice to see you around these parts! How's the VW these days?"
Colin
Still rolling. I was doing an oil change today and noticed that George had lost its tailpipe somewhere down the road.

And since it looks like rain is in the forecast, I'm going to let the boys at Kombi Haus to my 3K mile compression test. I've already done the valve adjust, oil change, etc.

I want to make sure that the bus is in shape for Buses By the Bridge XX.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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JLT
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:35 am

An update:

I sprang a leak on my left valve cover on the way back from Buses By the Bridge ... the gasket slipped off the lip of the head and I lost about two quarts of oil in as many miles. As fortune had it, I was near a rest area so I pulled into a space and got to work.

The Gaskacinch didn't cinch ... it just fell off the valve cover. So I used a spare gasket, put it on dry, filled the crank-case with the one and a half quarts I had in the car, and continued on down the road. I bought another quart at the next service station I passed, which brought the engine up to full.

When I got back to Sacramento, I went over to Kombi Haus and talked with Justin and one of the mechanics. I found out that they had given up on Gaskacinch and went back to Permatex Aviation Form-a-Gasket. That kinda makes sense, since the VW engine thinks it's an aircraft engine anyway. I remember using this stuff back in the seventies, and don't recall ever having a problem with it apart from it being hard to scrape off the valve covers sometimes.

I'm writing up my experiences with the Buses By the Bridge trip for my blog, and will post a link in the "General Chat" area when it's up.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Amskeptic
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:47 am

I will continue to use Indian Head Shellac until contra-indicated.

What alerted you?
Colin
( ) smoke in the rear view mirror
( ) oil warning light
( ) connecting rod bouncing off the ceiling
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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JLT
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by JLT » Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:10 pm

Amskeptic wrote:I
What alerted you?
Colin
( ) smoke in the rear view mirror
( ) oil warning light
( ) connecting rod bouncing off the ceiling
Oil warning light. It just flickered at first, and then came on solid red when I turned off the freeway and the bus dropped to idle as I coasted in.

Just lucky, I guess.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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asiab3
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by asiab3 » Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:22 pm

Wow, major crisis averted! Glad you caught it...

I had a few light dribbles once that were from poor cork gasket installations on my part. Then I had a profound cloud of smoke using the FelPro (store brand) gaskets from FLAPS once during rush hour on I-5. No bueno, and never again! I like to think my oil pressure gauge would catch a catastrophic failure before it happened, but I don't glance at it more than once a minute or so.

Does anybody think crankcase pressure/vacuum plays into helping these leaks along?

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

ainokea
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Re: Valve cover gaskets -- how do you like to install 'em?

Post by ainokea » Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:53 pm

I have used either Gaskacinch or Permatex Aviation Sealer for a good many years on my own vehicles and customer vehicles, without a single failure. Crankcase pressures may possibly, in some cases contribute to V / C leaks in high RPM engines, but a V / C cover and gasket just slipping off the head is more of a faulty installation, to my thinking at least. These V /C covers are not easily installed and they can appear to be secure when they are not. Ainokea

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