Valve cover gasket replacement pics 83 Chevy 305

[caprice_2nv]

My winter beater 83 Caprice has been leaking for a few years mostly from the valve cover gaskets. Lately it's been bad and even smokes when I park it from it leaking into the manifolds. I could have ordered them online for cheaper but I decided I'd like to do it today so I went into my local Canadian tire and asked for valve cover gaskets and surprisingly they stocked fel pro rubber for my engine $22 Canadian plus tax.

So far I have both removed, in the middle of cleaning the valve covers and the surfaces on the heads. Adjusted the valves on the driver's side so far.

It's not as clean as I expected, definitely dirtier than my 350 olds in my summer car. Nothing but synthetic for the past 10 years, mostly Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, currently Mobil 1 5w30 high mileage. Here are the pics:

 

[demarpaint]

I've been saying this for a while. Many times it takes more than a good synthetic oil to clean up that, as you can see from using oils touted for their cleaning ability for 10 years. Don't feel bad, my 2000 Century wasn't looking that good either and it only saw brand name dino oil changed every 3K miles, since new.

What are your plans going forward? Do you plan on trying a product for engine cleaning, or leaving it alone after you clean up what you see?

 

[Garak]

That's par for the course for something of that vintage. The taxis were a little better, but not always, particularly if they had a long gasoline private cruiser life before being converted to LPG then spending most of their daily hours at operating temperature. The one that looked best, as I recall, was one we bought new, used it as a private vehicle for 30,000 km or so on severe service OCIs, and converted to LPG before being a taxi. When it inevitably flattened its cam, it was in pretty clean shape inside. Unlike some of the others, though, it didn't see a lot of gasoline and short tripping, much less the leaded gas that some of the other ones experienced.

 

[Chris142]

You are going to reverse dimple the bolt holes?

 

[andyd]

That really didn't look all that bad to me. Those cvrs are cheesy sheet metal. You don't want 'em to get rusty.

PS. Chris 142 is right. Don't forget to flatten out the screw holes

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Adjusted the valves on the driver's side so far.


Adjusted how? Doesn't it have hydraulic lifters?

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Adjusted the valves on the driver's side so far.


Adjusted how? Doesn't it have hydraulic lifters?

Chevy small block valves are adjustable by turning a nut to set lifter preload. Really no reason to mess with them once set.

 

[HM12460]

Really not bad at all. I would be just fine with that if it were my car. Keep up the good work.

 

[kstanf150]

Do you ever have to add coolant ?

 

[bullwinkle]

Good old pain in the neck emission era carburetors, I don't miss them at all! I'm convinced they tend to run rich, with sludge resulting.

 

[spasm3]

Compared to what i've seen from the 70's/80's that looks pretty clean! You could Kreen it, but i would not spend the money to do that on a carbed car.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Think oil isn't the problem. May need to be ran longer to get it up to temperature. Then again it is his beater ride so keep as is.

 

[dave1251]

Looks good for a 36 year old Chevy 305. Nothing to worry about.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
I've been saying this for a while. Many times it takes more than a good synthetic oil to clean up that, as you can see from using oils touted for their cleaning ability for 10 years. Don't feel bad, my 2000 Century wasn't looking that good either and it only saw brand name dino oil changed every 3K miles, since new.

What are your plans going forward? Do you plan on trying a product for engine cleaning, or leaving it alone after you clean up what you see?


Well my plans are to swap in a 5.3 and 4L60E from my old work truck I bought from my employer. So I don't worry too much about my 305 lasting forever. Even if it if did go bad I have an 86 305 with only 100k miles as a spare, well maintained and clean oil in it, running awesome, if I had to swap it in.

For this engine once I get both valve covers installed again I'm going to change the oil within a week because I know I dumped a lot of old gasket and dirt down the drain back holes. It was a pain the do in the dark garage here.

I'll keep using the cheapest 5w30 synthetic in it for about 3k mile oil changes like I have been until I replace it with a 5.3. Currently the 305 only uses about a QT every 2.5k even with the heavy oil leaks from the valve covers and oil pan.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I've been saying this for a while. Many times it takes more than a good synthetic oil to clean up that, as you can see from using oils touted for their cleaning ability for 10 years. Don't feel bad, my 2000 Century wasn't looking that good either and it only saw brand name dino oil changed every 3K miles, since new.

What are your plans going forward? Do you plan on trying a product for engine cleaning, or leaving it alone after you clean up what you see?


Well my plans are to swap in a 5.3 and 4L60E from my old work truck I bought from my employer. So I don't worry too much about my 305 lasting forever. Even if it if did go bad I have an 86 305 with only 100k miles as a spare, well maintained and clean oil in it, running awesome, if I had to swap it in.

For this engine once I get both valve covers installed again I'm going to change the oil within a week because I know I dumped a lot of old gasket and dirt down the drain back holes. It was a pain the do in the dark garage here.

I'll keep using the cheapest 5w30 synthetic in it for about 3k mile oil changes like I have been until I replace it with a 5.3. Currently the 305 only uses about a QT every 2.5k even with the heavy oil leaks from the valve covers and oil pan.

Sounds like a plan to me. Good luck!

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by kstanf150
Do you ever have to add coolant ?


Never have to add coolant. It is due for a coolant change though.

 

[caprice_2nv]

It gets short tripped in cold weather, just a few miles each way to work, so it could definitely use longer drives, but it gets longer drives on weekends and special occasions as I usually drive when my girlfriend and I go anywhere.

I want to see under the valve covers of my summer car now. The valve covers were new in 2007 and haven't been off since. I had the intake manifold off and it was spotless inside but so far new leaks so no reason to take them off.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Good old pain in the neck emission era carburetors, I don't miss them at all! I'm convinced they tend to run rich, with sludge resulting.


I've had pretty good luck with them, but occasionally under certain conditions, you have to have a feel/understanding of an engine and when it occasionally doesn't start instantly you can react with either slightly more throttle if it seems like it's rich or an extra pump or 2 if it seems lean. I was a kid growing up when I learned this stuff on my dad's 79 Impala and 78 Chevy truck. We also had a manual choke 77 Corolla and an 84 Plymouth reliant (k car) but they were junk and scrapped before I got old enough to help work on stuff. I was born in 83.

My first car I drove regularly was an 83 Grand Prix with a 231 (gm 3.8 v6) and a 2 barrel. It worked pretty reliably but I got a feel for carburetors on it. It was much more reliable than my 86 Honda 250 dual sport motorcycle I also had at the time. When I started to ride the bike again in the spring it was so unreliable I went everywhere in the grand Prix (gas was cheap back then in the early 2000s). My parents made me buy another car because they didn't like the rusted out frame and huge trunk floor hole in the grand Prix. But it was mechanically reliable as anything back then when it was about 18-19 years old.

 

[caprice_2nv]

BTW the Canadian carbs in the 80s were not computer controlled like the us ones do they were much more reliable. Like a late 70s engine really.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Here is the post gasket replacement pics. I ran out of brake cleaner cleaning the valve covers so lots of oil is still smoking onto the exhaust. I also wish I had a chance to clean and paint the outside of the valve covers but the engine hopefully will be replaced next year anyway.