Found the cause of my V-8's Valve Cover leak

[W_A_Watson_II]

Ever since I built the M's V-8, I've had a nuisance valve cover leak. It wasn't in the typical location, along the bottom where it lets oil run onto the valve cover. It was on the uphill side, between the valve cover and the intake manifold.

So I decided to install some new gaskets, rubber this time rather than cork (what I had installed originally). As the drivers side was a tight fit (between the cover and the brake lines/PS Pump) I started on the passenger side. Once the cover was off, the gasket looked good and compressed all the way around. However, I found an indication that the valve cover was bottoming out against the intake at the runners, and not letting it properly compress the gasket.



So I garbed a file, and some tape and proceeded to relive the interference spots.

[W_A_Watson_II]

With the passengers side back on and torqued to 80 in-lbs, I proceeded to pull the drivers side. The cover came out a little easier than I had feared, and it showed a greater interference area, again at the intake runners.



So out came the tape and files, and I addressed it's cover clearances as well. With the cover relieved and cleaned I re-installed it with the new gasket as well. IT was a little tougher to install, took two tries, but it was also torqued to the 80 in-lbs.

Below you can see the before and after.



So now to see if the leak is gone, and I didn't cause any new issues.

[Ron in Indiana]

It amazing how such little interference will cause problems. Glad you found the problem and a solution. I'll keep an eye on that on future projects.

[W_A_Watson_II]

yea, it's always the little things. After I found the interference and did a search, it's apparently a known issue.