Valve Cover Removal

THunterW

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I scratched up the paint on my firewall pretty bad from the sharp edges of the mount plate of the hydro-booster rubbing against it when I was taking off my driver's side cover. That sucked...
 

03 DSG Snake

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A towel, trashbags...doesnt really matter.

My car sat like this while I had a bunch of stuff coated

IMG_2147.jpg

Where did you attach the chains?
 

BadBlue98GT

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Great...I just bought some valve covers to get powdercoated and it looks like installing them is going to be yet another pain in the ass. Time to buy a case of Natty Light and get ready to spend a Saturday yelling at my car and Ford engineers!
 

BadBlue98GT

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its not that bad at all. you just need the right tools and a little patience.

Here lately everything I have done has turned into a fiasco so I developing a pessimistic attitude. I just have to keep looking at pictures of engine bays with powdercoated valve covers to keep my motivation up.
 

Bigggy

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In the OPs post, why isnt there a hard fuel line above the passenger side valve cover? I guess I need to disconnect mine. The AC lines going into the firewall and the lines next to the shock tower going to the front of the car are blocking me from removing my passenger side vc.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?1036246-Oil-on-plugs

Fuel line need to be disconnected and as for AC line, just move the small tubing insualtion upward so the cover can get out..but it will still be tight againts the hard line.

And yes its the right gasket, in my case I've use good old RTV cause the gasket would have tacking to much time to arrive.
 
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Jefe

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Thanks ^ That made it much easier. Got it out in about 30 mins last night. Unhooked the fuel line(its not 3/8" like the manual says, its the green 1/2" one), moved the coils to the back of the blower and then manhandled the soft AC line next to the shock tower to give me the clearance I needed. Once I had the cover on top of the hard fuel line I pushed down on the front of the cover to lift up the back side and it popped right out. Still amazed it came out as easy as it did.

20140922_181753_zps8b07137f.jpg


20140922_181744_zps9db5d4af.jpg
 

BadBlue98GT

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Removing the battery and using some extensions to get at the hydroboost and master cylinder nuts was a big help. Now that I've done this, if I ever do it again, it shouldn't take 8 hours! Not that technically challenging of an install, but getting the last hydroboost bolt off is not fun and working the driver's side cover off tested my patience a bit.


 
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03' White Snake

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Just wait til you have a TS and want to change the VC. The blower needs to come off due to the plenum not being able to be removed from the blower. It makes the drivers side the easy one.

I changed my VC with the eaton in about 5 hours. The dam spark plug seals kept falling off while putting the VC in place. Overall it's not that hard, just need to take your time so you don't scratch them. That defeats the purpose of changing them to look good.
 

BadBlue98GT

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Just wait til you have a TS and want to change the VC. The blower needs to come off due to the plenum not being able to be removed from the blower. It makes the drivers side the easy one.

I changed my VC with the eaton in about 5 hours. The dam spark plug seals kept falling off while putting the VC in place. Overall it's not that hard, just need to take your time so you don't scratch them. That defeats the purpose of changing them to look good.

Yeah, next up is a TVS or a Whipple so I think these will be staying put until it's time to rebuild the engine! I had a layer of Cling Wrap on them and I also put several layers of painter's tape on the surfaces that looked like they would rub. It was a bitch to get some of it off, but well worth the extra protection.

When engineers produce more complex technology for vehicles which equals more performance, the one thing they don't factor in is the fact that people are going to want to modify them. In a perfect world, we'd have performance vehicles that you could modify without taking 14 things off just to change one component.
 

HuntFishCobra

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Did this last weekend using the motor mount method and it was too easy. Definitely recommend going this route - 1 bolt and jack that puppy up! Don't mess with the hydroboost, the alternative is way easier.
 

BME

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Couple of n00b questions that must be asked before I tackle this project as I've been trying to clean up my car and give it the attention it deserves. Does anyone else have pictures of the motor mount method? I'm scared that I'll jack it up (or lower?) it wrong and mess something up. Im not afraid of tackling the master cylinder, but why mess with that if it's unnecessary all together. Also, has anyone painted their VC/Coil covers on their own? If so, what did you use, and how did you go about prepping them?
 

HuntFishCobra

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Couple of n00b questions that must be asked before I tackle this project as I've been trying to clean up my car and give it the attention it deserves. Does anyone else have pictures of the motor mount method? I'm scared that I'll jack it up (or lower?) it wrong and mess something up. Im not afraid of tackling the master cylinder, but why mess with that if it's unnecessary all together. Also, has anyone painted their VC/Coil covers on their own? If so, what did you use, and how did you go about prepping them?

Motor mount can be accessed by a ratchet + short/medium extension through a hole in the K member, think it's a 21mm bolt if my memory serves me right. OR you can get yourself a monkey wrench and crawl under behind the K member looking up out the front of the engine bay and find it that way. I believe its torque to 110 lb-ft, and the engine will not lower at all from that point. Use a 2x4 on your jack and put it where the oil pan meets the block on the drivers side and you're set
 

cj428mach

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The motor mount method didn't work for me and just cost me a couple hours of fighting it. The master cylinder method is how I finally got it apart. I think even if I could have gotten the cover out via the motor mount method it would have been a really tight fit and when you're dropping something like that back into place with silicone on it you want a clean shot the first time. JMHO
 

in4thewin24la

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I read through all the forums; and from reading I had 2 options: unbolt motor mount and move motor or unbolt brake booster; either way a pia. Being new to owning a cobra, not mustangs, all I could think was this cannot be the only ways to do this. Well I am here to tell you there is a way easier method.

1) un-do your clutch cable. Mine has the aluminum Steeda quadrant so I just pulled the cotter pin allowing me to pull it off without any trouble.

2) pull the spark plug cables off and move them out of the way.

3) Unbolt the valve cover which was 8 bolts on top and 2 on the front of the cover.

4) This is the part that my buddy and I stared at wondering why not just pull that and it would allow you to pull the cover off......Unbolt the I think 6 bolts on the intake manifold. I also unscrewed the nut out of the egr tube fitting on the driver side to allow more movement. Once that is done you can just lift it and off comes the valve cover. Yes it is that simple.

I know this is an old post and someone somewhere has to have done this but I couldn't find it everywhere. Hope this helps the rest of you.
 

Stevenbekah

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So my car is enjoying some winter hibernation and this would be a great time to tackle this...anyone else use the method that @in4thein24la has tried? I'm looking forward to tackling this but still want to know the best way
 

jordan20523

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So my car is enjoying some winter hibernation and this would be a great time to tackle this...anyone else use the method that @in4thein24la has tried? I'm looking forward to tackling this but still want to know the best way
//cloud.tapatalk.com/s/587278dee7f8e/edited_1483795693647.jpg?


Did this last week. I did the brake booster way and the forums make it sound way worse then it is.
Do the obvious first. Remove throttle cable from blower, coil covers, coil packs, etc etc
2 bolts on Master Cylinder
1 bolt on brake booster
3 bolts under steering wheel
Remove brake booster from brake petal
Remove clutch quadrant from clutch petal
Pull clutch cable out of the way in engine bay.
Push brake booster rod as far as you can into engine bay from petals so it comes out from firewall.
Go to engine bay and try to move it farther away from engine only about 1 inch from bolts that hold brake booster in.
The you pry and wiggle the valve cover off.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

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