VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 216 leaky valve cover gasket

started up my 50 216 checking for leaks all good except for rear of valve cover.cant tighten cover any more no threads left.am using FEL-PRO VS 50189C SAYS 37-62 AND ALSO 37-53 TRUCK,LOOKED IN FILLING STATION BOOK and they say they have a 1/4 thick gasket for 37-53 and then they have another one for 54-62.have i got the wrong gasket.guy at parts store says he has 2 different gasket one is 5/32 thick and the other is 7/32 thick i cant see where .002 is going to make any difference.one guy said why dont you buy another gasket and silicone the 2 together and all i said was you got to be kidding.anybody got any ideas before i buy another gasket

Make sure the valve cover is straight and flat on the mating surface. If not,it must be hammered flat. Do this by laying the flange upside down on a bench or board and smack it around the bolt hole with a small hammer. Do not over tighten the bolts!!

Well, the difference is .060 thousanths not .002, but whichever you use the cover needs to be checked in the stud mounting area to be sure it is not collapsed.

When these cars were new they came from the factory with the thin gasket and every thing worked fine because the cover was not distorted from over tightening the nuts. We always stocked and sold the thicker gasket as Chevrolet offered both versions. Slight disadvantage of the thicker cork is it allowed some oil to seep through the thick cork.
Modern gaskets are also very hard and difficult to get the cover to squeeze a good imprint in it.

so in other words the 2 holes need to be hammered out a bit.would a good sealer applied to the gasket help out.i dont like using the silicone sealers but will if i have too.redid my math and you were right about the .060 should i go with the 7/32 gasket. andy

I had the same problem with my 48 216. I installed a new gasket, new grommets, and still had oil running down the back of the engine. I then replaced the cap nuts with a couple of stainless nuts, and, the cover still wouldn't tighten down. I pulled the valve cover off and ran the nuts down the studs, and, discovered that someone had buggered up the threads on the rear stud and that's why the nut wouldn't pull down the valve cover tight. I ran a die down the back stud, and, that fixed my oil leak.

Regards:
Oldengineer

i am using the original acorn nuts.this is the first time i have had this problem i suspect the gasket could be wrong im going for the thicker one if can find it.will straighten the cover ends they could be uneven.will work on it today and get back to all this evening andy
ps found the 7/32 gasket number VS 50190 C

When you have the valve cover off check the area around the two stud holes. If the areas are concave due to over tightening the acorn nuts in the past like Gene suggested then the valve cover gasket will not seal. This is a very common problem. If the areas are concave you can flatten them back out.

Another fix is to put a thick washer between the top of the stud hole grommet and the acorn nut. That will give you extra distance to tighten down the acorn nut.