Valve Cover Gasket Install Question

[KennyKaraoke]

New member. 2001 LS V8
I had the burnt oil coming in with the heat, sure enough it's the valve cover leaking onto the exhaust. I had no problems getting the cover off, I have the new gaskets installed to the cover, my question is, do all the bolts need to be set into the gasket or can I put the cover in place then install the bolts. I've already found the tightening pattern and torque spec. I'd rather not set them and have one drop off somewhere. Had a rocker arm nut drop into a V8 once. Once!
Thanks in advance!

Bought the car for myself so I could give the wife her Envoy back. She now let's me drive the LS to the supermarket. Occasionally. lol.
Love the car. Love the forum!

 

[theophile]

I did this a few weeks ago and I would definitely recommend setting the bolts so they are in the gasket before trying to reinstall the covers. Not only will this keep the gasket from deforming, it will also keep it seated on the cover while you reinstall them. Otherwise, because you pretty much turn them gasket side down during installation, the gasket can become unseated, perhaps without you noticing, which is obviously a bad thing.

Besides, the bolts face up during installation and are unlikely to just fall out.

 

[KennyKaraoke]

I did set them all, was much simpler than I thought, those center two seemed difficult then I found a perfect socket that did the trick. Everything is hand tight right now, just need to get a small torque wrench as I only have a large beam type wrench that reads big ft-lbs. All in all relatively simple job. Hope to find some time to finish tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks for the response.

 

[tireman]

just finished mine this weekend for the 2nd time, got 75k on the felpros before they started to seap.