HELP Needed!! Passenger side valve cover removal

[willmoodom]

Hows everyone! Do to time constrainments, location, weather, and overall health, both physically and financially, this Topend rebuild has taken months. Past couple weeks, Ive seen some descent weather and tried removing the vc's. As it stands, Ive removed the coils hoping i didn't have to pop the covers off. no chance! out of 8, appears 5 are drinking oil in the spark plug tubes. now though i haven't removed the left vc yet, Ive removed everything around it and am able to do that without hanging up. Right side however is my problem not to mention these big a** mandingo hands of mine. Now i was able to remove the bolts holding the center plastic piece and coils just barely. Those of you who may have read other posts i started about the idiot i bought the car from and its true condition wont be surprised to know the coils though bolted down were missing half the bolts on the passenger side! anyway, how are you guys removing the 4 vc bolts closest to the firewall ?? that's the right side or passenger side vavle cover. i read someone moved the ac pipe. I find that hard to believe. I cant move mine(unbolted)but a few mm. keep in mind, i still have ac, so i don't want to create a leak in that system. what special or homemade tools were used to get in the tight area and remove those 4 bolts? can some one show me a photo to illustrate how they removed those bolts? i took some pics to show how far ive gotten and will upload them a lil later.


BTW, the gasket for the center piece that covers the coils......where do i get that from new? quite a bit of rust on the coil bolts, assuming water is getting in there.

[willmoodom]

where do i get the gasket for the plastic center piece over the coils?

[maxnix]

The valve cover trim is only sold as a unit. Once you undo the bracket bolts, PS VC is removable.

Got the VC special rubber washers? Check yours. I will bet they are hard as concrete and deformed permanently.

[OwnerCS]

Mine was hard as a rock... I found some engine vacuum hose the right size to replace the original gasket, cut to fit, then used a few drops of super glue to hold into place..

For the rear cover bolts, I used a combination of socket extensions and a socket universal joint to fit the bolts and work around the A/C lines. IIRC it took about 3 different combinations. As I recall, I climbed into the engine compartment so I could be looking over the cover bolts to do the removal.

When reinstalling the covers, I made several practice attempts without RTV to get into the swing of the exact hand movements needed to position the cover on the head so I could do it without touching the RTV to any unwanted areas when making the final run...

[willmoodom]

The valve cover trim is only sold as a unit. Once you undo the bracket bolts, PS VC is removable.

Got the VC special rubber washers? Check yours. I will bet they are hard as concrete and deformed permanently.

i don't quite understand about the removal. what bracket? the one the a/c is attached to? i wont have a problem with removal of the vc. only removal of those few bolts and re torquing once installed. As for the gaskets, i ordered a felpro vc set and all that was included was rtv, 2 grommets, and 4 half moons. nothing for the center cover piece. maybe i can use some silicone around the edge? i assume its major function is keeping water and dirt out and away from the coils.

[maxnix]

Why not OEM gaskets? Much easier.

[willmoodom]

because a part like this would come bundled up in a set that cast 600 bucks, which i don't have. but i did thought when i got a vc set from felpro, everything related to the vc would be included. i respect the oem parts though. i so far have gotten my sensors, timing and hoses from infiniti. i got nothing more to bleed right now.
any other ways to remove those firewall bolts on the vc? i would assume due to limited responses that only a few people have RnR there vc's.

[willmoodom]

The valve cover trim is only sold as a unit. Once you undo the bracket bolts, PS VC is removable.

Got the VC special rubber washers? Check yours. I will bet they are hard as concrete and deformed permanently.

what bracket bolts? the one the a/c tube/bowl thing is hooked up to? i mean that is the only thing in my way?

[Q451990]

To deal with the coil pack cover issue, I have filled the channel that holds the factory gasket with black RTV and tooled it to a fairly smooth edge. Then let it dry overnight, and it makes a pretty good seal. Craig's solution sounds better though.

Just replace the half moons, rubber washers on the standoffs that hold the center of the covers down, and everything else gets sealed with RTV on the 90-93.

The FSM actually shows a guide pin, that to my knowledge was never made, that goes in the threaded bolt holes in the heads, that should allow you to guide the covers back in place easier. If I do this again, I think I'll buy some bolts of the correct size and thread pitch, cut the heads off, and lightly thread them into the heads before reinstalling the covers. I think this would make reinstallation much easier.

I don't recall using any special tools other than a wobble head or u-joint adapter with my socket set to get the covers off.

Good luck!

Heath

[OwnerCS]

Here's some pictures of the cover gasket rework process..

[maxnix]

VC gaskets are available on their own.

[Q451990]

Here's some pictures of the cover gasket rework process..

Love it!

VC gaskets are available on their own.

Just remember there are no actual gaskets for the 90-93. I know Brian knows this, I just wanted to clarify since this thread is about a '91.

Heath

[maxnix]

Here's some pictures of the cover gasket rework process..

Love it!

VC gaskets are available on their own.

Just remember there are no actual gaskets for the 90-93. I know Brian knows this, I just wanted to clarify since this thread is about a '91.

Heath

No, the early VH45DE don't have the gaskets for the VC. Neither do they have those expensive little washers under the acorn nuts! Nice reworking of the trim panels for the coil packs. Care to specify the material?

[willmoodom]

So the 4 half moons,2 grommets, and rtv is all I need? That's what my vc set from felpro came with. Its weird that no o-rings for the spark plug tubes.. what better way to keep the oil out of the spark plug area?

[OwnerCS]

There is a channel for RTV around the plug sockets. I filled it in around that area. I had some paper towels installed in the plug sockets before I started that operation. After 24 hours then the RTV had cured, I took small knife and trimmed the excess RTV from around the contact point. I used a shop vacuum cleaner to vacuum off any excess RTV that I had trimmed from around the plug socket area.

The material I used for the coil cover gasket was some extra (under hood temperature resistant) vacuum line that I had from the plenum job. I picked a size that would fit, then purchased more an my local NAPA store.