This weekend I'm going to tackle the plenum gasket replacement. Looking at the steps, it's not too difficult, so I'm sure it will go fine. My question is, are the valve cover gaskets actually reusable as indicated in the Haynes manual? Or should I get a replacement set as my truck has 90k miles on it? If they're likely to be fine I'll just reuse them. I figured I'd do that at the same time as the valve covers are oozing a little.

 

If they are the metal/rubber ones, they yes, you can reuse them. If they are paper or some other material, then no.

Good luck. Take your time. It's not hard, just time consuming and detail oriented.

 

If theyre metal or rubber and your going to reuse them try taking a razor or something with a fine edge and scrap off the crap that should be around the gaskets. Basically, just clean them really well.

 

I ended up just picking up some new ones when I got the Fel-pro intake gasket kit. That way I'll be starting with good gaskets. With the Felpro plenum gasket, do you have to put RTV on them anywhere? They have a blue gummy substance in between the bolt holes, but nothing right by or around them. I looked at the DIY and it makes no mention of silicone but doesn't go into great detail about actually installing the gasket on the intake.

Looking through the DIY, it looks like it's not going to be hard at all, just a little time consuming.

 

My kit had the metal plenum gasket, and I used a small amount of ultra cooper on it just to be sure.

 

+1 on the Ultra Copper. Works great for this repair.

 

Is the Ultra Copper different than the other high temp RTV silicones? I have the red ultra stuff. If not it's < 5 bucks for a tube, I guess.

 

I just like using the copper when i'm dealing with a gasket that is made of metal that is going between metal (i.e. metal on metal). With paper, rubber, or cork gaskets, I might have used something else. For the two rubber intake manifold gaskets for the front and rear of the block, I used Permatex's The Right Stuff.

 

I used the Fel-Pro blue gasket with no silicone, which is how Steve recommended it be done. No leaks yet, but Silver likely doesn't have any either. A new gasket with proper torque (and Locktite too, right?) will work well with the new aluminum pan.

 

+1 , I would not use anything with the Fel-Pro gasket.