Thread: RV8 Valley Cover - Tips for Installation

It is years since I did one, but from memory I bolted the end clamps down loosely to hold it all in place, then lowered the manifold on and got all the other bolts started. I have no recollections of it being particularly difficult.

Bummer - yesterday I did a trial fit of the manifold without the valley cover tin to ensure all the holes line up. Taking the manifold off this morning one of the washers came off one of the bolts and fell into the top of the drivers side head - next to the No4 piston inlet pushrod where of course there is a big hole for the washer to fall through. Which of course it did - next obstacle is the cam shaft which it managed to pass with no trouble at all - looking through from the top past the cam I can see the counter weights of the crankshaft and no sign of the washer so I guess it is now sitting on top of the windage tray on top of the sump - I guess that if I started up it would get washed down into the sump proper.

Now the washer is 20mm across and a few mm thick so it is too big to get picked up by anything - so do I really need to pull the sump off? I guess I know the answer but happy to hear alternative options.

Thanks

Garry

I always fully clamp the ends of the inlet manifold gasket, using my fingers to align the gasket with all the holes. Not had a problem doing it that way yet. As for the washer, you could get a cheap bore scope and have a look for it. USB or smart phone versions are available in Oz. Maybe test check another washer and see of a magnet could drag one out of the sump plug hole.

So we have a consensus on bolting the tin down first - thanks to both of you.

I have a endoscope thingy and was hoping to see the washer sitting on top of a crank counterweight but was not the case - if i could see it I could recover it with a strong magnet probe. Unfortunately the sump plug is too small to get the washer out if I find it there.

I guess I really have no option but to pull the sump

Cheers

Garry

If it is 20mm across it is just going to sit on the bottom of the sump and go nowhere. It will certainly not be picked up through the gauze filter on the pickup.
If you feel uncertain, fit a small supermagnet onto your sump plug and it will probably eventually migrate there but won't come out. Be aware that a super magnet on the sump plug makes it very hard to reinsert the sump plug if you have a steel sump. They are available at Jaycar in about a 10MM size.
Regards Philip A

Well that was an absolute disaster.

When I test fitted the manifold all bolted up easily - everything went in finger tight - no issues.

So I put in the brand new tin gasket and bolted it down at ether end - however all the bolt holes in the head were all half covered over. In trying to get the gasket to fit I completely wrecked it - it just would not fit there is no way the holes were ever going to align with the bolt holes and the gasket was covering part of the inlet ports on the heads.

Having wrecked the new gasket I then got the old well used one back out - with use I could see that the bolt holes had been elogated towards the centre - putting this tin gasket on and bolting it down the other bolt holes were not too bad but the gasket still blocked a few of the holes. As it had been on the engine with a different manifold I thought this would fit OK.

Well no - with the manifold on top I was able to get most of the bolts in but unfortunately on two of them the tin gasket forced the bolt to go in at the wrong angle and the first few thread got cross threaded before I realised what was going on so rather than persist I pulled the lot out.

So on Monday I will try to get a new tin gasket and a 3/8" tap to retap the cross threaded holes. I will then test fit the manifold and new gasket and where required elongate the holes in the tin gasket to sort of resemble the worn areas of the old gasket.

Issues with installing the valley cover gaskets on other forums are quite common hence my concerns before starting - hopefully things will go better next time around. I have done it twice before and not sure why it did not go as planned this time.

Cheers

Garry

There should be a couple of tang like bits on either side that hold the gasket in place while you fit the valley clamps.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

There should be a couple of tang like bits on either side that hold the gasket in place while you fit the valley clamps.

In theory when the valley cover is bolted in place with the single bolts and valley clamps in the centre at either end, the rest of the bolt holes in the valley cover should line up with the holes in the heads but they don't. The valley clamps pulls the valley cover down so the rest should be in alignment. I know the heads are still within specs even though they have been skimmed as the manifold fits straight on.

Cheers.

Thanks Phillip - for piece of mind, if the weather is OK tomorrow I will pull the sump - it is alloy.