Re: valve covers, and West Oaks Dodge

From: Jim, Donna, Erin, and Brian (leefam@wcc.net)
Date: Sat Aug 01 1998 - 05:17:34 EDT


>So, sometime next week I'll be putting these babies on. Anyone have
>any pointers on valve cover installation. They are supposed to come
>with gaskets and bolts. Should I invest in the heavy duty type
>gaskets or are the included ones ok? Will I need any type of gasket
>sealant? Will the stock spark plug wire looms work with the new covers?
>
>Thanks.
>---Mike, near Houston.---

Hey Mike

I got the MP covers on my truck. Did you get the black ones or the shiny
ones? Mine are black. You wouldn't believe how much better the engine
compartment looks with these babies on!!

Tips:

The gaskets they give you are fine (rubber/steel with little ribs). I used
blue RTV silicon from Permatex (I think that's the name). I put it between
the valvecover and the gasket, but not on the head. I had to sorta pry the
stock ones off, but with the MP 'covers and blue stuff on the gasket,
future removal is easier, and the gasket isn't destroyed in the removal
process. The passenger one is real easy to install. The driver side one
is a little harder because of the plastic tubing between it and the intake
manifold. Nothing that isn't more than 30 seconds of jockying it around a
little.

Bunch of important stuff here!!!!!!!!!!!

Get the Magnum Valvecover Grommet Set P5249642 ($5/$6 - dealer might have
'em in stock). It comes with a PCV grommet and an extra breather (EGR
valve thing) grommet, which you already get two of (breather ones) with the
vavlecovers. This PCV grommet is the only one that with work with the new
covers. I didn't know this until after I put mine on and ran my truck for
a few days with the PCV vavle hanging off the intake manifold waiting for
the grommet set to come in.

The covers have the oil fill caps on the left side (When the words are
right side up). This necessitates moving the PCV vavle to the front hole
on the passsenger side. I needed a liitle bit longer of a hose to do this
(I think). I put the oil fill cap on the rear of the passenger side cover.
 On the driver side I put another oil fill cap (which I also bought at the
dealer, 'covers come with one). Of course, put the breather grommet on the
rear for the breather. Don't forget to cut the bottom of the breather
grommet off at the ribbed section so it works! I put the baffles on with
Red Loctite - probably overkill, but it works for me. I put one under the
breather and the other under the PCV valve.

The stock plug wire looms can't be used if you use all the MP attaching
hardware. When you take the old covers off, you'll notice that the bolts
with the wire looms are really studs. If you reuse the studs, you can
still use the stock wire looms. The MP hardware contains no studs. I
changed to Moroso wires and got a Spectre wire loom, so I used all the MP
stuff. Until I got the Moroso wires and the loom, I left the stock loom in
place by just letting it hang there. Might not work with your headers,
though.

Final thought - Should take under 30 minutes, when you get all the parts.
Don't forget to torque the 'covers to factory secs.

Sorry for letting this sound like my life story, but I figured that you
should know of every problem I ran into.

Parts list:

P5249642 - Grommet Set (5-6 bucks)
P2946052 - Chrome Oil Fill Cap (4 bucks or so)
Red Loctite
Permatex Blue RTV gasket stuff
Wrenches

Brian

Look at crappy pic of installed covers. The pic is a digital picture of a
photograph.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/4878/dakeng3.jpg

or

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/4878/

and just look around my homepage for awhile - it will be under Some Info on
My Truck



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:09:17 EDT