Rocker cover gasket replacement

[Donnie]

As I was waiting for the exhaust manifold to be skimmed (done but now waiting on some studs) I thought Id sort the rocker cover gasket today.

Glad to report that it's an easy enough job and new gasket fits nicely in the rocker cover but of course when I went to put it back on top found another broken vacuum hose! Looking at the ends it appears that it was cracked halfway and I suspect that I may have broken it the rest of the way when undoing the bolt nearby for the rocker cover, so probably a blessing in disguise.

Have ordered some new tube off ebay so hopefully that will be that sorted. I guess that a lot of these pipes are quite hard and brittle with age.

vacuumpipe by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

coveroff by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

[Northern Bongolow]

Just a little heads up, the tubes that go through the gasket can get deformed with previous overtightening etc, they tend to crush in length or even lean over. Check they are all ok before refitting or your new gasket may leak. Cannot remember the torque setting but it's not much.
I've lightly filed em so they were all the same length. Check the rocker cover lip for square and flat faces, these get bent too.

[Donnie]

Cheers NB will do. I assume by the tubes you mean the channel the gasket sits in on the rocker cover?

[Northern Bongolow]

No, the tubes go round each bolt and through the gasket, they act as a spacer so you have something to torque the bolts against without crushing the gasket/cover to the head. The bolts also have a mushroom rubber washer on top also to each bolt top to cover external.

[Donnie]

Ahhhhhh, I see. I didn't realise that the tube goes through like that.