Fel-Pro PermaDry Plus Valve Cover Gaskets?

[CLAYTO]

PermaDry...

I trimed the tabs on the PermaDry to get it to fit. It STILL leaks. Mobil One definitely increased the puddle size

 

[scpls19398]

Look on ebay, I ordered a set of his polished valve covers, boy are they sharp. I am waiting on one of his polished alt too.:biggrin:

I can't remember his store name but the cover are on there now.

 

[whitecobra98]

I trimed the tabs on the PermaDry to get it to fit. It STILL leaks. Mobil One definitely increased the puddle size

yeah I was going to trim the tabs also but it looked like it was gonna leak bcuz the gasket didnt seem to fit right all the way around...too thin

 

[garrett]

valve covers

I like the cork with "the Right Stuff" slathered on both sides. IT WILL NOT LEAK! The only down side is that it will be harder than hell to get them off next time. You would be basically glueing them to the heads. It works though. I use the Right Stuff and a cork gasket for almost everything except the rear main seal (Neoprene)+ right stuff.

 

[S2V6RACER]

They SUCK with the TA valve covers and as a matter of fact I recall another racer have a problem with them. When they leak they really leak. I use cork and have no problems.


I am sure those who have them sealing up good will get good results. I won't run them again that's for sure.

 

[Nick Micale]

Maybe ok for the street............

Never had a cork gasket blow out at high boost, but one of these did.

Glad I had a spare set of corks in the trailer or it would have ruined that trip to the track.

Use spray adhesive only on the gasket-to-VC surface, and they will not leak, and can be re-used between valve adjustments or???

 

[S2V6RACER]

Never had a cork gasket blow out at high boost, but one of these did.

Glad I had a spare set of corks in the trailer or it would have ruined that trip to the track.

Use spray adhesive only on the gasket-to-VC surface, and they will not leak, and can be re-used between valve adjustments or???

Yep, we were struggling with these POS gaskets at Cecil. Felt like a idiot in the staging lanes, smoke, oil ect. Tried everything to get them to seal up. We just did lash before 1st pass and all looked well till I headed down to make a pass. We threw on the cork gaskets I brought with me "just in case" like you did and no problems since. Thank god.......

There are 2 areas on the TA covers that are a little small (surface area) and the gaskets tend to slide inside the cover. I know of another guy that had one do what yours did during the pass and it was a mess.

 

[Turbo1dr]

I'll bet the people that has trouble with these aren't cleaning the oil off the mating surfaces and are tightening them too tight. Just a suggestion...nothing to cause conflict.

 

[49-blues]

I like the felpros on my M&A covers and they are reuseable! anytime i used cork i used indian head sealer-never leaks.

 

[Nick Micale]

I'll bet the people that has trouble with these aren't cleaning the oil off the mating surfaces and are tightening them too tight. Just a suggestion...nothing to cause conflict.

Since you have not been there yet with these gaskets, and hopefully will not, let me offer my situation.

First, I KNOW there was no oil on VC, head or gasket when I installed them.

Having installed a few thousand VC's, they were not too tight.

With all that out of the way, let me explain my theory of why they can blow out easier than a cork gasket!

The 4 plastic clips at each bolt hole limits over tightening unless you compress or break the clip. The raised ridge does the sealing like a o-ring. It just will not hold as much pressure as the cork ones when glued to the VC.

I installed these a few months ago after adjusting the valves as the cork gaskets were used up. They worked fine up until the incident I mentioned. On that run there was oil smoke at top end and oil dripping back at the pit. On the trans brake, we found oil pouring out the pass VC in the middle bottom.

Also, my data log showed my vac pump was not working? So instead of a minus crankcase pressure, it was a big plus! The pump wire came loose from the fuse block. This was not the first time it happened, but the cork gaskets did NOT blow out back then.

 

[S2V6RACER]

I'll bet the people that has trouble with these aren't cleaning the oil off the mating surfaces and are tightening them too tight. Just a suggestion...nothing to cause conflict.

I assume you are not including me with this statement. I AWAYS clean my surfaces. In this case I even cleaned the perma drys also. Still failure.

 

[Otto J]

I have found them to work well with Champion valve covers but not stcok covers.
Have no exp with T/A covers

 

[carlsbadGN]

WhiteCobra98:
I had the same problems with the FelPros. Couldn't get them to fit the stock covers. The GM cork gaskets went in fine...........

 

[whitecobra98]

WhiteCobra98:
I had the same problems with the FelPros. Couldn't get them to fit the stock covers. The GM cork gaskets went in fine...........

at least it wasn't just me

 

[KILL4PEACEUSMC]

at least it wasn't just me

I looked up the labor on replacing Valve cover gaskets with our shops operating soft wear Mitchell 1 and found the falt rate of 3.4 hours to do both sides, so if I had a customer that came in for a quote, at $85.00 and hr is just shy of $300 dollars in labor. So from a professional mechanic and shop owner, the person that gave him the quote is not so out of line. Just because we can do them with our eys closed dosent mean we should do it base on actual time. I can slam a timing belt on a Honda with a water pump in 30 mins but the book time pays 4 hrs, should I penalize my self and bill a half hour? Hell no. 1005 mark up? Hell yes! do you think that 50 dollar shirt you bought cost the store 25 bucks?? no try 8-10 dollars. Shop owners need to be able to cover the cost of doing busness, if I sold parts for what I paid, or for a few bucks more, I would be broke. My highest paid tech made me $300k last year and I paid his famlilys health care, and $38.00 hr flat rate, he bills 80-120 hours a week in a 40-50 hr work week. And thats just my "top Dog" my other 3 techs are no sloutches eaither, Thats just how its done. Dont get me started with customers who bring in their own parts! Itrs lake taking you own eggs in to Dennys to have them scramble them up!

 

[NCTURBOS]

I looked up the labor on replacing Valve cover gaskets with our shops operating soft wear Mitchell 1 and found the falt rate of 3.4 hours to do both sides, so if I had a customer that came in for a quote, at $85.00 and hr is just shy of $300 dollars in labor. So from a professional mechanic and shop owner, the person that gave him the quote is not so out of line. Just because we can do them with our eys closed dosent mean we should do it base on actual time. I can slam a timing belt on a Honda with a water pump in 30 mins but the book time pays 4 hrs, should I penalize my self and bill a half hour? Hell no. 1005 mark up? Hell yes! do you think that 50 dollar shirt you bought cost the store 25 bucks?? no try 8-10 dollars. Shop owners need to be able to cover the cost of doing busness, if I sold parts for what I paid, or for a few bucks more, I would be broke. My highest paid tech made me $300k last year and I paid his famlilys health care, and $38.00 hr flat rate, he bills 80-120 hours a week in a 40-50 hr work week. And thats just my "top Dog" my other 3 techs are no sloutches eaither, Thats just how its done. Dont get me started with customers who bring in their own parts! Itrs lake taking you own eggs in to Dennys to have them scramble them up!

Amen...


K.

 

[KILL4PEACEUSMC]

You got Brother! And I didn't even mention my garage liability insurance is 6 grand a year

 

[whitecobra98]

You got Brother! And I didn't even mention my garage liability insurance is 6 grand a year

i'm not disagreeing with what you charge for labor...i'm disagreeing with the fit of the VC gaskets....you guys are worth what you make, and are there bcuz most people can't or don't want to do the work themselves

 

[KILL4PEACEUSMC]

I was just refering to the comment "Run fast" thats all...