how hard is it to change valve cover gaskets?

good_times44

Registered User
I just bought my 1990 sc a few days ago, and i need to change the valve cover gaskets. Any one have any advise on changing them? Is it hard or farely easy, id just like to know what im about to dig myself into. Im farely good with engine stuff but not that good, ive never worked on a engine with so much stuff crambed under the hood, anyways thanks
 
Basically, they're a pain. You have to remove most of the top end and accessory brackets to get them off. If I were you, I'd wait until I needed to get to something else, such as engine mounts, then go forward and do them. You might be able to tighten them to stop some of the leaks, but don't over do it.. screwdriver snug and no more as the bolts are soft metal. A flex line and deep 8mm socket might get to most of them.

Good luck and let us know when your'e ready to pull the IC tubes.. you'll have to know how to do this to do really much of anything on the SC engine. They're also a bit of a pain, but with practice, you get used to it.
 
Upper tube is a piece of cake. You unbolt the top of the supercharger itself (3 bolts, 1 stud), the 15mm nut/8mm stud holding the tube to the bracket, the 2 13mm nuts holding the tube to the intercooler and just lift it off. It helps to loosen the windshield washer reservoir.

The intercooler itself is very easy. 2 8mm bolts at the top, the 2 nuts holding the lower tube to the IC, push the 2 clips at the bottom off, and carefully lift it out being careful not to nick the flanges.

The lower tube can be easy or hard depending on how you approach it. Remove the serpentine belt. Remove the 3 coil pack bolts, and tie the coil pack out of the way. I recommend pulling the power steering pump pulley off. You can borrow the puller tool from Autozone. Remove the bracket which is attached to the water pump (2 nuts, 2 bolts). Loosen/remove the lower tube 15mm Nut/8mm stud at the bottom. Take the 2 13mm nuts off where the tube bolts up to the plenum.

Take the last bolt off the pwr steering pump, and tie the pump out of the way if this helps. Loosen the main power steering pump bracket, couple of bolts and pull the whole thing forward as far as you can. Feel around for the bolts/studs holding the lower tube to the engine block and remove them. The tube should be loose, twist, turn and maneuver it up and out. There is one other bolt holding the tube's bracket on, you may need to loosen it some to allow the bracket to move to get the tube out.

While you have all this out of the way, this is a good time to clean up, replace spark plugs, etc.

To reinstall, you just reverse these steps, but with 2 notes.. don't overtighten anything and when you reseal the tubes, leave the 2 bracket nut/studs and the IC nuts loose until all the parts are in place and then tighten the nuts evenly.
 
For the pass side, you remove the intake tube, unbolt and tie back the coolant reservoir, unbolt the A/C compressor from the bracket and tie it back and thats about as much room as you're going to get. I can't recall if the TB is in the way, but if so, then its easy to unbolt. When you reinstall this stuff, don't tighten down too much. Firm is good enough.
 
valve covers

thanks for your help even though i can do the work, it's nice to get input from someone who has tackled the job before.
 
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