66 350 open letter valve cover gaskets. been thru sveral sets of gaskets, all fresh and new, fel rpo, napa, no cheap ones and none fit remotely close. best found were the black rubber thick ones and trimed off the tabs. these are the original covers, un warped, never a leakage or fit problem, lst ones been on since the 70's, factory new ford service replacements. what are you using? stock original motor. I am aware of the problems with old nos gaskets shrinking and warping. what was the original gasket like? material, tabs,etc. thanks, phred
Quote from: papa scoops on February 25, 2020, 12:35:33 PM
66 350 open letter valve cover gaskets. been thru sveral sets of gaskets, all fresh and new, fel rpo, napa, no cheap ones and none fit remotely close. best found were the black rubber thick ones and trimed off the tabs. these are the original covers, un warped, never a leakage or fit problem, lst ones been on since the 70's, factory new ford service replacements. what are you using? stock original motor. I am aware of the problems with old nos gaskets shrinking and warping. what was the original gasket like? material, tabs,etc. thanks, phred
Original was cork . I have never had good luck with the rubber. For original look be sure to the ones with get the ones with tabs . Felpro and others. I has yet to be that much of a problem for me to keep track of mfg.I used last. I have yet to have a problem finding some at the local auto parts store.It may take a few different places. I typically glue one side to the valve cover and do not use a sealer on the engine side . The tabs help keep the gasket indexed. You may have to persuade a particularly set with tape until it drys . Contact cement on valve cover side and then another thin coat on gasket side separately . Do not put together at this time . Allow the glue to tack for 3 or 4 minutes before assembly. Most times this will assure a almost instant grip when applying gasket to valve cover I will put a super thin coating of grease on the engine side valve cover rail to help with not sticking when taken off in the future. FYI use a rubber hammer to break the valve cover loose and not a pry bar /screw driver. You can knock the he!! out of them to break loose without damage.This allows them to be taken off in one piece and most times be able to reuse the gasket. All but two tabs will typically line up with the notches on the valve cover. I have not been able to find any with all tabs needed so rather then go crazy you simply cut tabs off of a donor valve cover set and carefully glue in missing tab location for a factory look. If you don't care about originality disregard the part about the tabs.
Hi Phred,
I have found these covers are not perfectly flat. You want to make sure the lower corner and lower edge are snugged up first to make sure there is a good sit. Does that make sense? Then tighten up the other bolts as described in post 3 below.
Best of luck
Cory
Bob's tips are on-target, especially about using a coat of wheel-bearing grease on the mating surfaces. In addition to making the covers easier to remove, the grease acts as somewhat of a barrier against seeping. Usually, uneven and over-torqueing will cause leaks. Start out by tightening in a criss-cross fashion, lightly at first and finishing up with an inch-pound torque wrench at 84 in.-lb. which is much more exact than a foot-pound wrench set at 7 ft.-lb.
The op asked about open letter covers, which don't have index notches or the grooved channel like later style. They're a bit trickier to get the gasket lined up, but gluing and light grease still applies.
I just installed some valve covers on my Mustang last night. The key is patience....
I also used this Permatex High Tack Gasket sealant on the valve cover side only. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ptx-80062?seid=srese1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqNPyBRCjARIsAKA-WFxvh3xvGWIeXyyH6fyOKPVTCvxUvs7VTB0xaifXSYf-NeMgH3liRbIaAlcwEALw_wcB (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ptx-80062?seid=srese1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqNPyBRCjARIsAKA-WFxvh3xvGWIeXyyH6fyOKPVTCvxUvs7VTB0xaifXSYf-NeMgH3liRbIaAlcwEALw_wcB)
It helps to get the gasket to stay in place, but it can be messy. It creates almost like a cob web type string when you go back and forth to the bottle to fill up your brush.
Quote from: CharlesTurner on February 25, 2020, 04:47:24 PM
The op asked about open letter covers, which don't have index notches or the grooved channel like later style. They're a bit trickier to get the gasket lined up, but gluing and light grease still applies.
Yes,but for those reading even though the open letter valve covers do not have the notches the gaskets used on them do and so the same amount of tabs apply's. Also for those wanting nuance details,the top and bottom surface of the gasket were many times but not always coated with a dark almost black coating which maybe helped adhesion. Examples of the gaskets can be seen in the early Shelby catalogs. I simply paint with flat black to duplicate the look. The sides/edges are bare cork . NPD used to sell gaskets already done up but they may have stopped.The FE versions of the same time frame were silver covered cork by contrast.
NPD sells gaskets with the correct tab locations for all tabs. Would have to do add paint to the top to make it look original. According to a very early 65 GT350 parts list, the gaskets were from Ford.
tabs original for 66 or cut off all tabs?
Quote from: EdwardGT350 on February 25, 2020, 07:18:36 PM
tabs original for 66 or cut off all tabs?
They were the same gaskets as used for all the other 289 applications so tabs were visible and present all the way around ;)
Pictures were posted in another thread when the question was asked before
http://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=3416.msg30129#msg30129 (http://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=3416.msg30129#msg30129)
Earlier threads
http://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=1123.msg20092#msg20092 (http://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=1123.msg20092#msg20092)
the valve covers have no provisions for the tabs. phred
Quote from: papa scoops on February 26, 2020, 01:09:26 PM
the valve covers have no provisions for the tabs. phred
Regardless of which valve cover, open letter or closed letter the gaskets used had the tabs.
was told at saac 44 in sonoma to cut off the tabs for 66. ???
Quote from: EdwardGT350 on February 26, 2020, 10:36:35 PM
was told at saac 44 in sonoma to cut off the tabs for 66. ???
I suppose who ever told you that hadn't studied the vintage pictures enough or had forgotten. Been there done that. I know sometimes I look at a vintage picture 20 times and on the 21st time I see something that I hadn't seen in the same picture before. The understanding we have about the details is still evolving. FYI the cork gaskets need all of the tabs in place because some gaskets don't have all 6 . Also sometimes the tabs on the later gaskets are in the wrong spot. The good news is that the tabs can be made to look as they should like I mention in my other post.
66 gt350 with tabs
I like the contact cement idea.
if you dont need to have cork felpro makes black rubber gaskets ( mine have been glued) to the covers since 1996 and dont leak and have been on and off dozens of times.
Mr. Gasket still good? cork with impregnated rubber. Best of both worlds.
Quote from: rkm on February 27, 2020, 08:24:44 AM
Mr. Gasket still good? cork with impregnated rubber. Best of both worlds.
If you are concerned about what they looked like in 1966 then not good . If you are more about function and not originality then yes they are good. This topic is more for those trying to replicate a historical look.
Anybody got a photo of the OEM gasket as I got a bunch of original ford valve cover gaskets in my inventory that don't have packages ID. Many came from Detroit area years ago probly lunch pail parts and many have the silver paint.
Ed, I can bring up a 289 valve cover for a trial fit if you need.
Brent
These are outtakes from the Sports Car Graphic article on #598. The left cover appears to have a tab sneaking out at the front. The right appears to have some black around it. Hope this helps a little.
John
Quote from: JohnHouston on March 12, 2020, 05:41:32 PM
These are outtakes from the Sports Car Graphic article on #598. The left cover appears to have a tab sneaking out at the front. The right appears to have some black around it. Hope this helps a little.
John
Is that an all steel hood on this SCG article? Looks like it with the port hole underneath hood scoop.
Cory
A C4 with a MICO, too.
We had the discussion about the rubber with cast covers. They leak. I have used cork and only had an issue with the last set where the head meets the intake. Issue was resolved by a little Ford silicone. I just went back to cork. The tack adhesive as posted Is messy. I just spray the cork with the 3M spray adhesive. Give it about five and stick it to the valve cover. be sure they are completely clean and dry on the gasket rail.
my problem is not the leaking, or type of material (I have some old ford stock gaskets) on the am rubber ones, some of the holes aren't even close to fitting, off by as much as 1/2 inch. I suppose I could strech or shrink and glue, but....also, the wire loom hold downs 2 on left side only? blue? thanks. phred.
Quote from: papa scoops on March 14, 2020, 01:00:12 PM
my problem is not the leaking, or type of material (I have some old ford stock gaskets) on the am rubber ones, some of the holes aren't even close to fitting, off by as much as 1/2 inch. I suppose I could strech or shrink and glue, but....also, the wire loom hold downs 2 on left side only? blue? thanks. phred.
Typically 2 on left side . 65-68 are typically unpainted. It is more common to see some blue painted ones on later 69/70 Shelby's but even then unpainted are most typical.
thanks, fred
What color is correct for both parts of the fuel line bracket at the water pump?
Thanks.
Quote from: hertz350 on February 10, 2021, 03:30:15 PM
What color is correct for both parts of the fuel line bracket at the water pump?
Thanks.
The bracket was on engine when it was painted . The clip was added late . The clip is made of unfinished spring steel. A gun blued finish is the best way for me to describe it.
Thanks. I know you meant "on" the engine. I will paint that part blue.
These "period" photos are very telling. Yes steel "port hole" hooded Hertz w/ auto. Note that the headers "appear" to be white but they "were" black when installed. This is because "early" high temp paint "turned" white when exposed to high heat! That used to irritate me to no end "in the day".
Notice also the paper engine ID sticker is over the coil bracket. You can also see the single mark on the fan belt , "clocking of the positive battery clamp , Autolite shocks and several other things. Lots of variation in assembly should be noted.
Another telling sign of how early a car that is the fact that it has tower clamps instead of the wire style radiator hose clamps unlike the vast majority of 66 production.
I don't think it's a porthole hood. When you blow it up the left side though hard to see looks like it's straighter and on the right the radius isn't constant as it would be on a round hole.
But back to the subject at hand. Cork gasket glued to the valve cover and wheel bearing grease on the surface between the gasket and head. They last a long time even when taking them on and off to adjust the valves. The trick is to make sure there is grease between the gasket and head so they seal but don't stick.
If you look below the square box on the right there is a straight line downward. That is a recess stamped into the hood to allow the scoop to set below the surface and be "leaded in". The hole in the hood should be round .