'59 413 valve cover gaskets

["Imperial 59" <imperial59@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The valve cover gaskets are not hard to find as they are still being produced (by Felpro I believe) but you do need to make sure you get the four bolt and not the six bolt like the later models used.

 

Valve job on the car would be difficult for you to do on your car, mostly because you don't really have a place to work on it.  You have to pull the heads off the car to do it and this requires being able to work under the car and beside the car for many hours (If I remember correctly you have only one cramped parking spot to work in?)

 

I also would advise you not to do just the valve job.  There is a good chance that if you rebuild the top half of the engine you will start burning oil due to extra stress being placed on your rings.  Many people do it and get away with it, but if you aren't one of the lucky ones then you end up doing all that hard work over again.

 

I hope Hugh pipes in on this one as he did the valves on his car last year.

 

                                   Steve B.

Steve B.

----- Original Message -----

From: Imperial59crown@xxxxxxx

To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 2:14 AM

Subject: IML: '59 413 valve cover gaskets

It is getting close to the time I want to remove my valve covers, and repaint them from the fire engine red someone has put on them, back to the black they're supposed to be. I heard at a recent car show that the 413 four bolt gaskets were getting hard to find. Does anyone know of a source for these? Also, how hard is it to do a valve job? Remember, I failed carburetor 101 by not removing the metering rods before putting back together the two halves of the carburetor, so we're talking very novice mechanic here.
Bill '59 Crown