Valve cover and spark plug hole cleaning

[tgrandahl]

I just got my new valve cover gasket in today so its time to get this thing started. One thing that i noticed when i removed the cover was that the old gaskets look, fine. There not dried up at all, the only thing that looks like trouble is the paint peeling off the bottom side of the valve cover.

I do plan on blasting the cover before it goes back on but i don't think that paint could cause it to leak into the plug holes. The paint is peeling off the valve cover around the plug holes and the outside of it, but oil was only leaking into the plug holes. Any ideas on what i can do to be sure this int going to leak again?
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[tgrandahl]

I would also like to clean out the threads for the spark plugs aswell if possible, all plugs were all pretty rough coming out. The two plugs that were soaked in oil were scary, i thought i was going to snap them. The holes also seem to be lined with a sandy like coating, probably from the oil burning off, but i would like to clean all this if possible.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/2696444033_78f18aee36.jpg?v=0

How can i go about cleaning the plug threads without getting the cylinder full of crap?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2697257994_74659cf407.jpg?v=0
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Also because some of the coil packs were grounded out i would like to test them, can anyone post the test procedure for the coil packs from there bentley?

[tgrandahl]

I could also use the torque for the valve cover bolts if anybody has it handy, sorry to nag i seem to have misplaced mine and the new one hasn't arrived yet.

[Dave M]

There is no magic way to clean to plug holes. I would'nt go too far with it though, as yours don't look aweful and a little grime on the side won't make a difference. Drop a small piece of rag down the hole and clean the sides up a bit with long q-tips or equivalent.

Below is my depiction of the the coil terminal. Orient it in yoyur hand so the 'poky things' are up and you'll get the corrrect terminal numbers.

I________I
-_1_4a_15_-

Test coil primary resistance (ohms) between terminal 1 (neg) and 15 (pos). Should be 0.4 - 0.8 ohms.

Make sure the grounding in oil hasn't damaged the boot or the area where the boot contacts the coil body. I had one disintigrate on me, ccausing hesitation.

10 NM or ~7 ft'lb for the head cover nuts. Very light torque.

Dave

[Ross]

The paint peeling could contribute to the leak. There is oil under where the paint was right?
For the plug holes you can use a thread "chaser", not a tap with grease on it to catch the crap. Any little bits left will be blown out and are soft aluminum anyway. Not to worry.

[Morgenster]

The gasket may have been fine but a lot depends on how you torque down the cover. When you torque it down make sure it is done in the order specified in the manual and torque everything evenly.

You don't really need a torque wrench because 10Nm is really really light and I did mine with a small 6 inch wrench torquing it evenly to where I felt resistance and then an extra quarter/third turn, nothing more than that.

My gasket also looked intact and fine but I replaced it anyway and had no more leakage afterwards.

[Dave M]

OOops, I Thought you wanted to clean the hole, rather than the thread. Hole, thread hole, hole thread, wholesale, thread bare……….. i should take more care reeding and riting ;)

Dave

[whiskychaser]

Your dad or your grandad would probably tell you to take an old plug and cut a groove in it with a hacksaw at 90 degrees to the thread. The theory is that the crap collects in the groove when you insert/remove the modified plug. Not that I know your dad/grandad but we probably went to the same school:)

[Ross]

$#%$^%*% old geezer, you

[tgrandahl]

Ok, so i went out and got a thread chase at autozone today $6 sounded to good to be true. Its got a 14mm thread on one side and a 18mm thread on the other side, because of this it uses a 13/16" deep socket. Thats awesome because i don't think a 13/16" socket will fit in any 14mm plug well, and it wont fit in a m50's head.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2699559903_6bcae4bd69.jpg?v=0

So i guess tomorrow im off to grinding it down to an 18mm socket or grinding the groove in the old plugs. Looking at the tool thats all it really is anyways.

As far as the gasket and the valve cover goes i'm going to pressure wash the hell out of it. I also got some scuffing / prep pads to hopefully knock the rest of the paint off without removing any material.

My only worry is the baffle on the under side of it, pelican parts mentions that it cant be ordered by itself. Should i take it apart, will it go back together?

BTW what is the torquing pattern recommended for the valve cover, new Bentley still hasn't come yet :-(.

thanks for all the help guys, hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

[bad_manners_god]

Ok, so i went out and got a thread chase at autozone today $6 sounded to good to be true. Its got a 14mm thread on one side and a 18mm thread on the other side, because of this it uses a 13/16" deep socket. Thats awesome because i don't think a 13/16" socket will fit in any 14mm plug well, and it wont fit in a m50's head.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2699559903_6bcae4bd69.jpg?v=0

So i guess tomorrow im off to grinding it down to an 18mm socket or grinding the groove in the old plugs. Looking at the tool thats all it really is anyways.

As far as the gasket and the valve cover goes i'm going to pressure wash the hell out of it. I also got some scuffing / prep pads to hopefully knock the rest of the paint off without removing any material.

My only worry is the baffle on the under side of it, pelican parts mentions that it cant be ordered by itself. Should i take it apart, will it go back together?

BTW what is the torquing pattern recommended for the valve cover, new Bentley still hasn't come yet :-(.

thanks for all the help guys, hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

Start from the center and move outward....like so:


http://usera.imagecave.com/badmannersgod/valvecovertorque.JPG

[Washburn]

Timely thread...gotta do this myself after picking up a missfire due to oil collecting by the plugs. Thanks!! Let us know if you run into any trouble.

[tgrandahl]

ok, so i blasted the sludge and crap off the valve cover this morning, it still looks like crap because the paint is pealing off. I don't want to powder coat it until i know it doesn't leak, but until then its clean.

The pressure washer took down most of the remaining paint on the under side of the valve cover. However on closer inspection i noticed that the gray layer under the paint (primer?) was full of small dips and deformations. They run perpendicular to the ridges on the gasket so i'm guessing this could be the cause of the leak.

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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2701621231_9a8791c15f.jpg?v=0

A 2" DA fit right over the holes and knocked it down to the aluminum. at this point after seeing the condition of the old gasket (pretty good) and the bottom of the valve cover (pretty rough), i thought it couldn't hurt. I really didn't have to take allot off to get a flat surface again and i did it all around so im hoping to have a good seal now. Thanks for the torque info.

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[tgrandahl]

As far as the plug threads go i think allot of it actually came out of the plugs them selfs.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/2701623573_d788af8675.jpg?v=0

I also decided to ditch the idea of modifying the crap autozone thread chaser, ill just exchange it for oil. I went with grandpas suggestion of cutting an old plug. I ground two flats on a plug with a bench grinder.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2702432234_f8af0b4d5b.jpg?v=0

After threading it in and out once or twice all was good, sprayed the plug with wd40 before i threaded it in and just wiped the crap off when it came out each time. To clean out the plug wells i just wrapped a shop rag again soaked in wd40 over a plug socket and cranked it around till they were clean.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2702440466_31152061f9.jpg?v=0

I cleaned all the oil off the coils and thankfully they all metered within spec, so i think as long as it doesn't leak anymore i should be good to go. I cant start it until i get the transmission back on so i can put the intake back.

Ill report back when i get it running and back on the road, thanks for all the help guys!