HELP Valve cover gasket

[beachbum0286]

I just ran my ski for the first time after installing the riva valve train upgrade and lightweight valves. I torqued everything as per the manual. I ran the ski for a short period of time and found that the valve cover gasket is leaking. I took it off cleaned it and reinstalled and it is still leaking. What next?

[JFizzleJR]

SAME EXACT THING happened to me. Did you re-use all the bolts? I think that might be the problem. I purchased one of those thread repair kits and it didn't work very well. So we drilled out the holes and installed the correct pre-threaded plugs. 3 of the threads were trash, 3 more were on the way, and the last two were OK. Now they should all hold up nicely.

[beachbum0286]

We did re-use the valve cover bolts but replaced all head bolts. The valve cover bolts thread in fine and seem to tighten down but after 20 seconds of the engine running oil begins to spurt out...... Theres only 5 hours on this ski.

[JFizzleJR]

And the bolts are still tight after running? Try to turn them before and after running. Other than that, maybe there's a hard to find tear in your gasket?. I don't know..

[beachbum0286]

just checked after running..bolts are all tight. Also inspected the gasket and it looks fine.. Also leaks from more then one spot. This is very strange since the engine runs and sounds fine.

[beachbum0286]

Figured it out... 2 ARP head studs are hitting the valve cover on the bow end. I don't think they are touching by much but just enough to allow it to leak.

I know the head and head studs are installed 100% correctly. My best bet is going to be to clean up the two areas inside the valve cover and just take enough material out for the clearance needed.

[beachbum0286]

Fixed: Ground down two spots enough to clearance. Going out to test.