Leaky Valve Cover

[bruceo2011]

Been fighting oil leakage from the valve cover on my '72 Scamp for quite a while now. Thought it was the drool tubes, so replaced the gaskets on them. No luck. Changed the valve cover gasket. Tried both cork and rubber with no luck. I had gone from the stock '72 style cover to a mid '60's cover for it's look. Checked it for straightness, no issues. It finally hit me to check the bolts. I had gone with some "bling" and installed some Mopar chrome 1/4-20 5/8" long ones to go with the blue valve cover. The factory bolts are 1/2" long. I ran the chrome bolts into the head without the cover on and a couple of them bottomed out early. Chased them with no luck, so repainted the 1/2" ones, installed them, and no more leaks. A measly 1/8" sure caused me a lot of grief. Bye bye bling, hello dry garage floor. !

 

[diymirage]

were you bottoming out on depth of the hole on the head or lack of threads on the bolt ?

are the chrome bolts threaded all the way up ?

you might be able to hit them on a belt sander and knock 1/8th of and rock the blingers

 

[bruceo2011]

Yeah, I was bottoming out in a couple of the holes. I tried chasing the threads with no success - they were drilled and tapped shallow. The bolts are full threads. I installed the painted originals to test my theory and no leaks. So, I am going to throw a nut on the blingers to chase the threads after I knock that 1/8th off.

 

[diymirage]

sounds like a plan my man

 

[69383valiant]

Valve cover hitting intake???

 

[bruceo2011]

Valve cover isn't hitting the intake. Two of the holes drilled and tapped in the head are shallow. Checked depth and ran a tap in all of them. Blew them out with compressed air to get any crud out, too. So, I'm doing what Diymirage suggested and knocking down the length on the chromies to stock length. I'm running the painted stock length bolts now to make sure I'm on the right track before installing the "bling" again.