Valve cover - gap between cover and engine block?

[02FailBlazer]

Ok here's an actually stupid question - is this gap supposed to be here? I have to admit I never paid any attention to whether there was a gap between the valve cover and the engine block before. I just did the valve cover gaskets, cover bolts also got new "gaskets" or donuts or whatever you want to call them (can see one of the new blue ones in the photo). Bolts were all torqued to spec. Did I flub something up here?

 

[Mooseman]

I'm pretty sure that's normal. When you put the new gasket on the VC, it must have been sticking out quite a bit. I think it would be almost impossible to fully compress that gasket. And I'm pretty sure the bolts are shouldered so you're not really tightening on the VC but the bolt bottoms out at the correct height.

 

[02FailBlazer]

I'm pretty sure that's normal. When you put the new gasket on the VC, it must have been sticking out quite a bit. I think it would be almost impossible to fully compress that gasket. And I'm pretty sure the bolts are shouldered so you're not really tightening on the VC but the bolt bottoms out at the correct height.

Thanks, just wanted to check before I bolted the intake back on.

Yeah the old gaskets were, I'm pretty sure, the original gaskets and were just about pancake flat. New Apex gaskets were about 3/32" to 1/8" thicker than the now flattened factory gaskets.

 

[mrrsm]

The Valve Cover AND the IM are suspended (floating above) via "Plump" Blue "O" Ring Style Gaskets and held there by Fasteners that have Ledges to prevent them from being tightened past 89 Inch Pounds. This prevents the need to make a more direct "Cork" or Paper Laminate Style Gasket that were famous for leaking after being tightened down way too hard. This allows the Valve Cover and IM to be shielded from direct Engine Vibrations that would wear away at their Plastic (or Nylon) from making direct contact between ANY of these surfaces over time.

Even the Fasteners themselves never actually make direct contact with either the Valve Cover or the IM and they remain suspended inside of the shielded Blue Grommets for the same reasons, dutifully holding these items with a minimal 89 Inch Pounds for years on end.

This is ... a very forgiving arrangement... that is also necessary when in indirect contact with Aluminum Engine Parts that can expand and contract three times as much as the Old Cast Iron Engine Heads used to do might otherwise misbehave during the numerous pendulum like motions that eventually occur between the weight of the PCM bolted on One Side of the IM and the Throttle Body juxtaposed on the other side, while making at-speed left and right hand turns and -=Angular Momentum=- tries to defeat them. In time ...those Rubber Gaskets flatten out in this way and "Lose Their *Plump*...".

Think of how often you have to hang on in a sharp turn, were it not for the Seat Belt keeping Folks in there seats during such hard turns. The IM is subject to those very same forces of Inertia and Momentum and suffers over time due to Gasket Wear as the result.