simple valve cover question

[1963geraldine]

I've have a quick question and hopefully someone can give me an easy answer!
I have a 1963 travelall with a 304
The valve covers are both leaking all around both sides so I am replacing the gaskets today
What Im not sure about and slightly worried about is....

exactly how tight should I tighten the bolts when I put them back in?

last thing I want to do is overtighten them and ruin the valve covers

[Mark Ashford]

For me:

I loose the gaskets, use Permetex "right stuff" to glue the damn things on.


More effort to remove later down the road, but the longest time before the "weep" again for me.


Clean both surfaces as best you can. Use a hamer and whatever to straiten the cover flange as best as possible, then put the bolts in "snug". Like just enough to get some squish, but not some much as to crush anything.


If you use gaskets, I'd still put a thin layer of sealer of some sort on both sides. Something tacky to not "squish" out the gasket, and hold it in place. Tighten the bolts by hand enough to hold things in place with just a *little* bit of clamp. Let it sit over night then make them snug. Then hope it took.



IH's leak, if they don't, they are out of oil

[1963geraldine]

thank you! i appreciate the advice
this is my first project vehicle and im glad its a international.
seems like an easy enough task to accomplish but i've only begun. i dont think ill ever run out of things that need work.

[MarkOb]

If you do use gummy putty, make sure that when you tighten the bolts down and squish you don't squish too much.

The last thing you want is a bunch of gummy putty floating around inside of your engine waiting for a place to gum up the works.

[Yellowdog]

I have better luck with the cork gaskets.

[1963geraldine]

what color were the valve covers and the block were originally ?
I was trying to clean mine up today and it looks to be a very orange red...
my breather and the handle of the oil dipstick seem to have been the same color at one point
there were cork gaskets on there btw

thanks you all are the greatest!

[Hickman]

IH Red......

[Drew Merrick]

what mark said!

with a variation... I use the rubber gaskets from the local autoparts store and some permatex copper gasket seal. Havn't had any problems.

I also replaced the bolts with some allen head style bolts, not necessary but very pretty on my greasy engine. Nothing like a hood full of rust, grease and barely recognizable paint with the one or two shiny parts of chrome!

[1963geraldine]

i was really surprised NAPA had the gaskets! but NAPA is the only autoparts store ive been to that even has a travelall in their computers.
so when i took the valve covers off I noticed all the thick gitty...sludge inside.
i know its an old motor but it still worries me.
a rebuild would be great but I defiantly dont have the knowledge or the money to do that right now.
Is there anything I can do, should i be worried about her?
I could probably do in a rebulid in eight months but until then...

[MarkOb]

In regards to the gunk and corruption inside your engine--unless you are having problems getting enough oil to your rockers I wouldn't worry about it. That looks about what most any engine that has not had proper maintenance done in a long while. The use of a good detergent oil like Delo 400 or Rotella will clean that all up fairly well and relatively quickly.

In regards to engine work--if the engine is running fine, if the oil pressure is good, if the engine doesn't smoke except for during gear changes, and if the rockers are getting the proper amount of oil then I wouldn't worry about any major engine work any time soon. The SV engines were designed and built for medium duty truck service with service life in the 300K+ miles neighborhood. With proper care and feeding there is no reason to think an SV in a light duty vehicle won't go 500K+ miles without any major work.

Anything you have ever learned about engines made by the Detroit big 3 does not apply to the IHC built engines.

Change the gaskets to stop the oil leaks, use good oil and change it every 3000 miles or annually (whichever comes first), use a good 50/50 mix of coolant, and keep the RPM's below 3400 RPM's and you should be good to go for a long time to come.

Good luck.

[1963geraldine]

Thank you Mark!!!!
I can breathe easier now. I will defiantly defiantly get a good detergent oil like you mentioned.
She runs wonderfully, for being on a non op. for 23 years.
After i got the water out of the gas tank she started right up and ran when i brought her home.
Nothing like an International right? Im starting to figure that out.

[Drew Merrick]

not to throw a stick in the mud here, what mark said is correct but I would stress visually verifying that the rockers are oiling the valves and rods correctly. The SV engine is not like a chevy or ford. It won't spurt like a cut artery if you take the valve covers off and run them. What I would do while you got the covers off is to run the engine and verify that oil is oozing over all the valves down the rocker arm.

Oil will spill over out off the head there, but it won't spurt.

[Allan]

I'm going to wear my wet blanket here and suggest that you clean all that sludge out of the rocker arm area and drop the oil pan to clean it out as well. There is enough crap in the lifter valley already, and as you run the engine to clean it all out, it will get worse, maybe bad enough to clog the oil pickup.

If you feel really energetic, pull the intake manifold and valley pan, valve covers, oil pan, and clean it really well. If not, just the valve covers and oil pan.

I also suggest you replace the oil filter more often than you normally would while you're flushing this crap out.

These engines are designed to run at 3000-3500 rpm all the time. The crankcase needs to breathe a bit. The oil really moves around at this rpm, and it will help clean the engine, but the more you pull out right now, the better.

Fram sux. Use Wix. NAPA and CARQUEST are private label Wix as well.

[Mark Ashford]

Originally Posted by MarkOb

and keep the RPM's below 3400 RPM's and you should be good to go for a long time to come.

Opps

[1963geraldine]

alright! doing good
put the valve covers on after i got it all cleaned up. tightened it up. no leaks anymore.
BUT
i got some engine fast flush at napa.
im going to run it through, then drain it out and take down the oil pan
clean the oil pan out really good and fill her up with some delo 400 heavy duty motor oil, put a new gasket on and a new filter element in
and cross my fingers that it will clean her up good enough for now

thank you everyone! i really appreciate the input.

[Brownie45]

You should clean the oil return holes at the back of the heads while the covers are removed. Crud will plug these holes & oil will pump in through the valves. Use a piece of 1/8 inch cable to run down the return holes while feeding some solvent in along. This is with a cold engine & the drain plug removed.