Valve cover oil leak

[Sidecar Bob]

I used the covers from the ole engine on the new engine, mostly because I prefer the look of the 1000 covers to the 1100 ones and they were already painted so all they needed was a bit of clean up and a quick re-spray. The Athena gasket kit included new rocker cover seals so I used them but it did not include bolt seals so I used the Georgefix ones I installed a few years ago.

On this engine they leaked enough to leave puddles on the floor so something had to be done.

I removed the covers and surface sanded them on a piece of glass to get them as flat as I could. Since I had most of a tube of Threebond left over from assembling the engine I figured it was worth trying too so I put a bead in the groove in the cover, put the seal into that and put another bead on the side of the seal that mates with the head.

It has been a week and they are still dry. I'll know if it was successful if they are still dry next year.