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Sealing leaks RTV or?

Ingemar Viklund

Well-Known Member
Local time
9:14 AM
Joined
Oct 21, 2018
Messages
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Location
Bollnaes Sweden
Trying to fix some leaks (valvecovers and thermostate housing) Went cheap and bought a set of new cork gasket. What's the best way to get a leakfree engine? I was planning on glueing the corkgaskets and locktite the valvecoverbolts. Thermostatehousing? Use the papergasket with some sealant on both sides or skip the papergasket and use blue locktite silicone gasket maker?
 
Factory cast heads or some aftermarket aluminum? Factory heads and valve covers = making sure you have straight flanges and flat bolt hole areas, a plain old cork gasket and zero sealer.
 
You answered your own question. Don't go cheap on valve cover gaskets. Sneak up on the torque. I have found 5-6 foot pounds to be plenty with a quality gasket.
TStat housing is another issue all together. The old cast necks tend to mate better than anything. It all depends what material your trying to seal to what material.
 
I like Right Stuff Comes in black or gray You can use it as a gasket maker or I prefer a thin coat on each side of a gasket RC
 
Silicon. The secret to getting a good seal is clean & roughened surfaces. Use Lacquer thinners or Acetone for a final clean/wipe.

T/stat housing. Just sil, no gasket.
V/covers. Silicon the gasket to the cover but do NOT install. Wait a day for sil to set.
No special or expensive sil is reqd.
 
Mopar ATF RTV is a real good sealer. With cork gaskets, the bolt torque is really low, so it can be easy to over-tighten the bolts. use blue loc-tite on the bolts so they don't loosen.
 
My 2-cents?... make sure you have a good PCV valve and deal with any piston blowby you have
 
Please show a picture of your thermostat housing.
If it's a chrome one it's nearly impossible to get it to stop leaking.
 
A beltsander should work well.
Or take some paper and tape/nail it down on a flat surface and run the housing over it in circles.
 
The Right Stuff 90min is awesome.
Ive tried lots of glue on all parts of my car but now I only use TRS 90.
 
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