Valley Gasket Woes

[BRGChimaera430]

Guys,

I'm mid Valley Gasket change and having all sorts of problems, I fitted everything up and couldn't get everything to line up through the bolt holes, some of the bolts did not want to locate.

I've diagnosed two issues by working through step by step.

1. The holes in the gasket will not line up with the rubber end seals fitted. I've compared the old perished ones to the ones I bought from TVR Parts and the new ones are a lot thicker, has anyone experienced this, its not even close with the new rubbers but everything lines up perfect with the old ones.

2. Is one of the bolt holes on the Intake Manifold normally slotted? The second from the front on the drivers side is slotted so the manifold can be removed without removing this bolt on mine. The reason I ask is having removed this bolt I can't get a bolt back in, it looks like I'm going to have to try to rethread it but I wondered if this was the reason my manifold is slotted because of a problem someone had previously?


Any thoughts appreciated.

Cheers.

[Steve_D]

The manifold is slotted in just the one position and the slot is only just wider than the bolt. This is to align the inlet fore/aft so has to be the first bolt you fit but only install it about 5mm deep until you have all the other bolts started.

In terms of your other bolts not aligning in the gasket are you sure you have fully tightened the clamp bars that secure the gasket? If they are not fully down the holes will not align.

Steve

[Belle427]

You could try clamping the rubbers down for a few days to compress them a little.
I was told to eliminate them by an engine builder and use sealant instead when recently fitting some new heads to mine to aid port alignment etc.

[macdeb]

They can be a pain at times, and different suppliers can be ,,, different. Just a thought, have the heads been skimmed or the block decked? I had to shave some off mine at the ends because of this.