napaul

i just finished putting on the new 993 c4 motor mounts and want to move on to the next item on the hit list which is replacing the right side lower valve cover gasket. So my question is what needs to be removed to get at it completely and is there a thread of someone who has done it that would have some pics and explanations or diy. I've tried searching and couldn't find any .

Vandit

Does your car have a G-pipe or does it still have the secondary exhaust?

You probably only have the remove the lower shield (a few 10mm bolts) and possibly the G-pipe or definitely the secondary exhaust canister and you should have all the access you're ever going to get (it's plenty).

napaul

i have a g pipe.the lower shield is that fabric type heat shield i am assuming and you say it should just be held on with some 10 mm around the perimeter? and one last question since i am going to do this i need to drain the oil to remove valve cover and then do the oil change after. the car has been parked since end of sept and not started is it a good idea to start the car let run for 10-15 min to get oil hot and then drain or just go ahead and drain from oil tank and crank case anyways?

Vandit

Yea, it's a plastic panel w/ metal foil on the outside. There is/was some foam on the inside, but it's probably all deteriorated and gone by now.

If you're OCD about things, you may want to get some new clips for the ignition wires since yours might be all brittle and broken if they haven't been replaced before.

I think others have said that if you jack up the car pretty high from the side you're opening up, your loss of oil will be minimal, so you don't really have to drain the oil out of the car.

As far as oil change best practices, you would want to run the car long enough to get the thermostat to open up before draining.

napaul

way ahead of you with the clips ordered new ones from pelican and should be here this week along with some new front hood shocks. Replaced my rear ones with new turbo engine lid shocks to help support the new bridge wing i installed. Thanks so much for the help and advise vandit can't wait till spring to get back on the road.

napaul

well i just wanted to say i was right about the old gaskets being used on valve covers.it sarted off by me just wanting to do the right side lower but after removing it and see that the old gasket was used and some sort of sealant was added in conjunction with the old gasket i was not prepared to let the other side stay this way.I also noticed a small wet spot at the corner of the left side lower valve cover and figured well i'm here already so i just did both.torqued up to the 7 ft/lbs or 84 in/lbs. then while i was there i thought i would address the weeping oil line on back of the filter housing.so i removed it and replaced the 27mm crush washer and retightned.cleaned everything off with brake clean and filled with fresh castrol gtx 20-50. Pulled the dme relay cranked over a couple times and reinstalled and it fired right up.i ran it till it got to operating temp to check oil level and once i was happy shut the car down and happy to say no more leaks from oil line or valve covers.

on a another note i replaced the clips on valve covers for the spark plug wires.The right side screws came off well but the left side dam out of the 5 clips three the screws broke right off seemed like they were corroded to the valve cover.luckily i was able to remove with some penetrating fluid and needle nose vice grips. I'm eager to drive it and going through withdrawls. Dam snow and ice and no winter tires

jimq

Where is the best price these days for new valve cover gaskets?

BigMikeATL

I just got a kit from Amazon.com (3rd party) $57. It didn't have washers and had non-locking nuts. I used the old washers and distorted lock nuts. The rubber seemed to be good quality.

napaul

I got the valve cover kit with new exhaust gasket and nuts from pelican. Seems like a good kit. But then again I don't know what a bad kit or gasket is comprised of.

crg53

I may be wrong on this, but as far as I know, the stock nuts are not self locking (nylock), just standard nuts.

BigMikeATL

Correct. The nuts that came with the kit were standard. The car already had distorted lock nuts on it so I reused those. Didn't want nuts coming loose and leaking valve covers. Didn't get nylon locking because of the heat.

jimq

thanks guys

Makmov

A bad kit will have incorrect lock nuts sometimes, and often wont include all the the seal washers.

Yeah you can get a top quality kit with new nuts and new seal washers for about $80 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Good luck with your $57 3rd party ones.

BigMikeATL

Don't need luck when I have skills. Great quality gaskets in this kit. No need to over-think a simple valve cover gasket kit.

Didn't buy it based on price, bought it based on availability and would probably buy it again. Do you have a link to the $80 kit?

Makmov

no amount of skill will stop a bad gasket from leaking.

That is the valve adjust set with hardward and gaskets for the exhaust as we, and you should really replace the washers. They are seal washers and really should not be resused, unless you like oil leaks.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...2D%39%34%29%20