few KA questions - front cover and valve cover

[spitz7985]

when i did my timing chain, i used some ****ty liquid gasket to seal the pan and the front cover. i used nissan silicone for the cam sprocket cover, thermostat and water pump. i have leaks from the pan and the front cover and i was wondering if it is possible to remove the front cover without removing the cam sprocket cover.

also, i stripped two or three of my valve cover bolt holes (i always overtighten, seriously, its like a disease :-)). what can i do?

[racerSXtreme240]

you can remove the lower cover without removing the top, but i would not recommend it due to the fact that it will be hard to get a good seal between the top and bottom covers when u put it back on, i know it sucks, but your best bet is to take them both back off, clean em and reapply gasket to both.... as for the valve cover bolts, i stripped one of mine out last yr, its a fairly simple fix. just go to your local autoparts store, (i actually found mine at a lawn mower repair shop) and get a heli-coil kit, its basically just a thread tapper for aluminum that allows u to screw a new set of threads into the stripped hole.... the reason i had the get mine from a mower shop is because nobody had a kit for a hole as small as the valve cover bolts...i hope this helps