Well, this shows that there should be different valve cover versions. Mine '86 eurospec did not have any bumps which could save gasket from overtightening. But I have seen high aftermarket quality gaskets which have the protection spacers built in where the bolts are going thru. You should be able to find such gaskets in US. As far as some unknown european repair book said the bolts have to torqued no more thab 12Nm, if I recall..
-Nils 89 R ----- Original Message ----- From: "Holland Phillips" <[email protected]> To: "Galen Bergthold" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 12:07 PM Subject: Re: [a2-16v-list] 1991 Jetta GLi valve cover gasket > On Monday, Sep 29, 2003, at 20:46 US/Pacific, Galen Bergthold wrote: > > > The reason they stop is that the cover itself has little "bumps" at > > each bolt hole, which prevents you from over-compressing the gasket. > > But the gasket should squeeze out a little bit. > > Maybe there are different versions of valve covers. Mine doesn't have > bumps or anything else that would prevent the gasket from being > crushed, unless the bolts bottomed out in their holes before completely > squishing the gasket. > > > OK, I found the spec for the valve cover bolts, tighten them to 87 in > > lbs. > > I found that even 87 in/lbs is too much. While doing a cam swap, I > installed the valve cover using new gaskets, and torqued it to 87 > in/lbs. Unfortunately, I was off a tooth on the intake/exhaust index > and had to pull it back apart. I discovered that the plug hole gasket > had compressed to the point that it was very difficult to get the spark > plug socket in/out of the holes. When reassembling it the second time, > I backed off the torque value to 45-50 in/lbs, which squished the plug > hole gasket just to the point of giving a little resistance to the plug > socket. That was over 6k miles ago, and no leaks whatsoever. > > Oh, and just a reminder - don't forget the manifold support brackets > underneath the rear of the intake, that bolt to the block. > > --Holland > > _______________________________________________ > a2-16v-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list > For list archives, see listinfo link above. >
