Help removing rear valve cover??

[Zap]

Now past the nightmare of a broken valve cover bolt, I am trying to remove (and make for easy and correct reinstallation of) the rear valve cover. It seems like the hard coolant hoses are in the way, though. Did I miss a step, or can those be left in place? What is the trick to removing the cover without removing the hoses? I'm wondering if one of the rubber pieces was replaced at some point with one that is a different size...

Thanks!

 

[yamahaSHO]

You can work it out without removing hoses, however, since I have PC'ed valve covers, I remove the fuel rail and my cover slips right in.

 

[Zap]

Well, a little bit of wrangling later and it came out. I'm just nervous about getting the cover back on properly and not rolling the gasket. Any suggestions there? I'll probably pick up a mirror, if nothing else.

 

[CerberuS]

takes 5 minutes to remove the damn intake....

 

[sdpatt]

For the clearance to remove and replace that rear valve cover, I push the fuel lines and the thick wiring harness on the passenger side out of the way and tie-wrap them clear. I manually push the heater hoses with one hand while moving the valve cover with the other. Whether or not you have trouble fitting it back in place, it is always a good practice to verify the seal is in place with a mirror before the bolt-down. Please be careful when tightening thos valve cover bolts. The torque is only 8-11 lb-ft. Anything beyond that will either snap the bolt or strip the 6mm aluminum threads in the heads. After doing Heli-Coil repairs on my own car, I have never done it again.

 

[Frank]

One thing that helped me to reinstall the rear valve cover (on my ATX) was to install temporary "handles" on the top to grab onto. I used small box end wrenches as handles (approx. 1/4" or 5/16") and there were places to screw them down on either end of the cover.

Frank Whittle
'95 ATX