77 LeBaron - Valve Cover Gasket Replacement

[Justwondering]

I've had several discussions with Darth Car and taken a jillion pictures, read many old threads and have decided to replace the valve cover gaskets on this car.

oil all around the bottom of the valve cover. This is on both of them.

Lacquer all over the front of the carb. And a better view of the thick coating of oil and grime.

 

[Justwondering]

So I drove into town and bought a new gasket set, new battery for the backhoe, and new sparkplug wires.

Darthcar and I had a discussion about those orange wires. I'm not feeling it. I'd rather have blue ones or green ones. These orange ones aren't the original wires; although I understand they came off the assembly line with orange ones.

I've tried getting plug wire '2' off the front left (hopefully I have that memorized correctly). But its a no go. The boot started to split, but the electrode would not budge. So I pushed the boot back down for now and will see if I can find a sparkplug puller that is short enought to work on the rear plugs as well as the easy reach front plugs.

Meanwhile, here is the gasket story...

 

[Justwondering]

It boils down to a wonderful description from Darthcar and even I could grasp.

An engine is like a hamburger.

Top Bun -------- Valve Cover
Lettuce -------- Valve Cover Gasket
Meat -------- Headers
Cheese ------- Head Gasket
Bottom Bun ------ Bottom of engine

I have bad lettuce! And yes, I know this is a wonky burger with the cheese under the meat.

I began with the easier one. Driver Side.

Moved the air cleaner out of the way. And yes, I've ordered a new air filter. Should be in next week.

Then I spent 45 minutes cleaning the outside of the header while it was still in the engine bay. I didn't want lots of gunk getting all over the valves after I took the valve cover off.

Simple green was an excellent choice. My brother contributed some engine cleaner that he had tried and never used much of.

A much cleaner valve cover.
Notice the master cylinder in the lower right... its plastic. Does that mean its a replacement? I thought (as did Darthcar) that the 70's had metal master cylinders.

I swear 3 of the 5 bolts holding this in place had little if any torque on them. They were just barely in there.

Is that normal? Do they backout or was it loose because the gasket was failing?

After all 5 bolts were out, I used a mallet to 'encourage' the valve cover to seperate from the gasket.

Houston ... we have seperation!

 

[Justwondering]

Totally disgusting inside the valve cover.
Is this normal?

There is also sludgey, gunky material all in the valve area.
Gross.

 

[Justwondering]

Much cleaner valve cover.

Much cleaner on the inside of the valve cover.

New gasket.

New gasket installed on the valve cover.
Since the valve cover has a 'lip', the gasket stays in place as you put the cover back on the engine.

 

[Justwondering]

Cover is in place. This is one of the five bolts that holds it in place. I didn't clean them much at this point.

I'm pretty confident that the oil is a valve cover gasket problem, but the covers need to be repainted and I would redo the bolts when I redo the valve covers.

This is the valve cover on the other side. (I should have rotated it 45 degrees).
How do I get room to get it out?

It looks like there is a bracket holding something that goes to the power steering?? that I would have to release.

And this is a better picture of the passenger side. To the left of center is a vacuum amplifier?? (silver round metal) and to the right of center is the hose that is nearly sitting on the valve cover. I think it's something that belongs with the power steering.

Not quite sure of my next move, but I need to get that valve cover off so I can replace the gasket on that side.

JW

 

[Justwondering]

LOL
Probably my next move should be to get a manual for the car.

JW

 

[Mikes5thAve]

You need to remove those things to get the other cover off. If the vacuum amplifier is attached to the cover you can disconnect it and remove it with the cover.
1979 was the first year for master cylinder like that so it's been changed before.

 

[69-]

It's all about secondary air (above the cover to the right of the crankcase ventilation, with three big hoses and one vac line) and vacuum (Amplifier, switches, heating valve).

Nothing connected to the power steering on the passenger side.

To get the gunk gone kerosene / diesel fuel is a good help. Let it soak over night.

 

[Aspen500]

The aluminum/plastic master is '79 and up. Believe late build '78's may be aluminum also(?)

 

[Justwondering]

The passenger side was a battle of wills to get it out.

remove the small vacuum line

Disconnect the plug.

Lots of crisscrossing hoses to thread your way through to get the bolt out.

You have to remove two brackets (one in the rear and one in the front).
Of course, I trapped the socket between the bottom of the bracket and the valve cover.
So I had to use one hand to keep goosing up the bracket and the other hand to run the socket.
If I had just one more hand, I could have done this all just a wee bit faster.

Close up of removing one more bolt.

And this was the odd combination that let me get the back bolt off.

JW

 

[Justwondering]

vacuum amplifier removed from the rear

here is the bracket that's under it.
I had to remove the nut and loosen the 2nd bolt working blind.
Its all under the round housing of the amplifier unit and tough to see from above.

As I contemplate my next move.
It would appear I need to drop the alternator down just a wee bit to get enough working room to 'worry' the valve cover out.

So while I'm thinking about my next move, I went over to the other side of the car and decided to clean the corrosion off the battery.

Back over on the alternator, be very careful you don't just let it drop.
There is a plug that has a hard plastic housing held on by a rusted nut/bolt.
Just lower the alternator and don't shove it or you break the plastic in the rear.
Of course, you could just remove the alternator but that seemed a little too much trouble.

So I opted to loosen the alternator, leave the belts in place, and retighten the alternator in a lower position so I could be sure I didn't break the plug on the back.

One more plug to release. This is between the valve cover and the carb.

A little tab that traps the other side.
BE CAREFUL.... that little tab will break if you try to bend it up too much.

 

[Justwondering]

I learned a lot.
This hose actually is one leg of a 'T' set up.
It only holds air to go to the catalytic converter.
Just release the clamp and move the hose out of the way.

I thought I could remove the valve cover without moving that hose but I couldn't do it.

So disgusting. You can see that the left side is filthy. That was the section buried in the back under all the hoses. So I couldn't get it cleaned before I removed it.
Totally nasty.

Starting to clean up pretty well.

I'm realizing this valve cover is not straight and level.

But its clean enough now.

Inside was like the other one. Lots of yuck.
Its cleaner now.

Remember, the goal is to see if I can clear up the easy part so I can get a better read of where the oil is leaking.
Not that this is the final clean up.

JW

 

[Justwondering]

That fine looking arrow shows you how the side is not straight.
I used a 2x4 and a hammer to tap it back in alignment.

Looks better.

Right side after the install.

Left side after the install.

This little plug was unplugged when I got it.
I'm thinking the previous owner disconnected it since it is R12 and not converted to the R134A

I will have to convert it so I can have A/C this summer.
Makes me wonder if its just a missing conversion or if there is a problem with the a/c mechanicals.

Started and ran it for a few minutes and white smoke is coming from near the firewall.

And white smoke from here.

Lots of white smoke from here. hard to catch on the photo.
I have one showing it better.

 

[Justwondering]

Again.... all the smoke gives me pause so I take a break and look at other parts of the car.

Convenient diagram on the cowling area.

Note to self --- care in the plenum area. lol

Glue trap has caught some leaves but no rates or mice.

In the trunk is a dicey splice for two electric wires.

And a little box.

No black wire to the speakers so it must be splicing in something else.

Its the third brake light in the rear window/deck.

Better picture.

So it would appear someone did a poor DIY job of splicing in a third brake light.

JW

 

[Justwondering]

This was in the trunk when I got it.

Some unknown distributor in a big ziplock bag

 

[Justwondering]

Back to valve business.

Wet with oil on the rim where the gasket would be sitting. Bottom near the center of the driver side valve cover.

The top of the photo shows oil on the rim of the valve cover. I just flipped the cover over so the bottom is the top and the top is the bottom.

lord I should go to bed.

shiney with oil.

Other side of the gasket (which sits between the carb and the valve cover, is dry.

white smoke after 15 minutes.

This is the 2nd sparkplug from the rear on the driver side.
It is tan colored compared to all the other sparkplugs.
and after 15 minutes of engine running, it had something wet (probably oil) all in the well.

Clean and no smoke on the other side.
Right up until I shut the engine off.
Got some water
Came back and started it up again.
Then the valve cover started leaking oil just a few inches to the left of dead center on the passenger side.

The driver side did not leak after I tightened things up a second time.
I do dread taking that cover off again on the passenger side.

You can see the west spot and the white smoke on the passenger side.

I good day.
But neither a success nor a victory.

Just plan old progress made.

I should have a trailer available Wed or Thurs to trailer this over for the front end work and alignment. They said they would look it over for me and give me their idea of what's wrong with it.

At least the valve cover gaskets have been changed and that 1. makes it easier to diagnose and 2. may have cleared up a few leaks.

This is the end of the valve gasket story until I get more info and do more reading about what I should try next.
JW

 

[69-]

It is ok that the speakers have no second wire, as they are grounded via the chassis itself.

 

[kmccabe56]

Back to valve business.

View attachment 43011
Wet with oil on the rim where the gasket would be sitting. Bottom near the center of the driver side valve cover.

View attachment 43012
The top of the photo shows oil on the rim of the valve cover. I just flipped the cover over so the bottom is the top and the top is the bottom.

lord I should go to bed.

View attachment 43013

View attachment 43014
shiney with oil.

View attachment 43015
Other side of the gasket (which sits between the carb and the valve cover, is dry.

View attachment 43016

white smoke after 15 minutes.

View attachment 43017
This is the 2nd sparkplug from the rear on the driver side.
It is tan colored compared to all the other sparkplugs.
and after 15 minutes of engine running, it had something wet (probably oil) all in the well.

View attachment 43020
Clean and no smoke on the other side.
Right up until I shut the engine off.
Got some water
Came back and started it up again.
Then the valve cover started leaking oil just a few inches to the left of dead center on the passenger side.

The driver side did not leak after I tightened things up a second time.
I do dread taking that cover off again on the passenger side.

View attachment 43021
You can see the west spot and the white smoke on the passenger side.

I good day.
But neither a success nor a victory.

Just plan old progress made.

I should have a trailer available Wed or Thurs to trailer this over for the front end work and alignment. They said they would look it over for me and give me their idea of what's wrong with it.

At least the valve cover gaskets have been changed and that 1. makes it easier to diagnose and 2. may have cleared up a few leaks.

This is the end of the valve gasket story until I get more info and do more reading about what I should try next.
JW

Now is absolutely the wrong time to mention this, but Chrysler made (and may still have available) rocker cover gaskets that have a steel core, wrapped in grey rubber and have torque retention inserts (look like small metal dots on either side of each bolt hole). They use special grade8 1/4"-20 bolts that are about 3/16" longer than the stock bolts. The grade 8 bolts are necessary because the bolts are torqued to 100"/lbs. "Normal" bolts and gaskets are torqued to maybe 25"/lbs.

I put a set of these on the engine I installed in my Maxi. The valve covers rotted out, but they NEVER leaked.

 

[volare 77]

fel pro has the soft rubber gaskets with the tabs. better crush than those hard paper ones https://www.skspeed.com/felpro-1607...mopar-small-block-273-318-340-360-rubber-1-8/