valve cover troubles HELP!!!!
 

alright so i saw a diy on tcc on painting your valve cover and i thought since my car is in storage in my garage and i wont be driving it and my valve cover looks like crap why not!!

so i started by trying to remove the 2 10mm nuts on the bottome of the valve ccover closest to bumper.

For those who dont know me i am mechanically handicapped and just straight up bad at it. and as a result to that i ended up breaking those 2 bolts :mad:

so my question are
1) how stupid am i out of 10? lol
2) how bad is the damage? like to replace those bolts.
3)how do i replace those bolts?
4) to get them can i just go to home depot and/or cappy tire
5) how do i properly remove them without breaking anything else

i attached some pictures to show you my stupidity....
i should have stopped after breaking the first one. lol

Correct me if im wrong...but the valve cover bolts are special bolts and you will need new OEM ones.

As for removing them without screwing it up...just take it easy and dont crank it all the way on the first shot lool.

I did the same thing when i got my first teg lool. Thing was...that I couldnt get new ones, so i got my auto teacher to weld the bolts back together...BAHA. You can try a honda scrap/import place for new bolts.Or you can try calling honda

once you get the valve cover off, you can get at those studs. you'll see what i mean once the valve cover comes off.

1) 9.5 outta 10

1) 9.5 OUTTA 10
2) not that bad, dont worry
3) go to a shop and get a professional to do it...or me;)
4) go to Acura/honda. remember i have hook up for cost pricing at honda :)
5) dont touch it, u will ruin it more lol. you said it yourself that your not a good DIY'er

should have got the white man to help ya out.:giggle:

thanks guys for all your help.
and yea ryan i am definitely coming to you for that part.
hey 9.5 outta 10 is kinda harsh.
i would get you to do it but youd have to come to my house because my car is stored.

Oh jez did you turn them right instead of left lol.

Its okay we all run into something like this, I have one snapped on my teg cuz I tightened it too hard. I have mine temporary welded on looks like ---- gotta get a new one. Finding one at the scrap will be really hard to do since you need to find a motor that has vtec since the others won't work. (tried this already) and to change them well you gotta get the valve cover off and then find a replacement cam bolt, they are 12MM bolts and they are on there tight as tits lol. Torque wrench would come handy when putting it back on.

And as for stupidness well if you were losening them and it snapped I'll give you .01/10 but if you tightened them well you get a 10/10 lmao.

as for the stupidness and was turning them clock-wise so i was losening them so luckily im only.01/10


well im getting the bolts from ryan and his hook ups. welded on eh?? i wouldnt mind them being welded on. what 12mm cam bolts are you talking about????

im surprised you knew where the valve cover was located my friend. i kid i kid lol!

lol i know right!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ummmmmmm. Clockwise is tightening. Counter clockwise is loosening. So yea....I give you a 10 out of 10 ahahah

Lmao!!!! The bolt that holds your valve cover. Was it the 4 in the middle or on the corners?

check the pics paulie.... corner.:rolleyes:

Alrightty then. I guess I do deserve a 10 out of 10. My god I am bad. I guess the lefty losy righty tighty only works from the top not the bottom. Lol.

Oh ---- didn't even see the pics. Plus I'm on my iPhone so opening attachments sucks lol. I can't remeber for the life of me when I took mine apart what and how those looked like lol. But it's just the bolt I guess they cost like 2.60 or something each. I bought from Acura with no discount.

so i finally got it off took all the other nuts off clockwise lol ( im learning)

but to change those bolts that i snapped look quite difficult. anyone know how to change them?
and the rubber seal that in the valve cover how exactly do i tell if they are good or bad?

Look for rips, deformation, obvious burnt on oil, etc. Should look like a near-perfect disk.

Since you have it all apart though, it doesn't hurt to change them if you have any suspicion of them being bad - that goes for the VC gasket also. They're cheap anyway lol

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this is the reason i decided to paint my valve cover in the first place.

dave what other seal are you talking about? i only know about the valve cover seal that is like stuck in the metal of the valve cover.

edit: i dont know how to get the pictures to show lol.

Theres the valve cover seal...and then where the spark plugs go.............im simpler terms(the 4 round thingys) When you take the valve cover off you'll notice 4 rubber gaskets under the valve cover. Get those new as well. The Valve cover and gaskets for spark plugs usually cost like 20 dollars together or something cheap like that.

While you're down there, check your cam seal too. Thats usually shitty on B series engines in general and if you're leaking from there might as well do it. Get an aftermarket one. The oem ones are pretty shitty. The aftermarket come with rings in the seal, get something like Blox or Skunk 2 if you wanna be ballllar lol.

Heres some help for you

DIY: Valve Cover Gasket and Cam Seal Replacement

Dont replace any seals if they were not leaking. IMO its just dumb, if its cracked and ripping, then yes, hell throw some silicone on em and place the valve cover back down when you are ready to re-install.

Regarding those bolts you snapped, well if there is enough stud sticking out for you to grip them with vice grips then you can try that. If it fails, you can always use the ctire easy out bits, you drill in counter clock wise [yes opposite of normal drill bit], then it has a hex head at the end for you to twist the bad boy out. OR third option is to drill, and tap, but that should be the last resort really.

thanks for the DIY dave or is it david sorry lol i forgot.

and martin i dont plan on replacing them . they are still in good condition, no cracks and/or rips.

if someone can help me with this. i know i have to sand it after i have stripped the paint but what grit sand paper do i use? dry or yet?

Best thing i found to work if you want it all stripped down to the metal is Aircraft Paint stripper. Make sure you remove all seals, lay the valve cover flat on cardboard and go crazy with paint stripped. The aerosol ones work better than brush on imo, and just have a beer while watching all the paint bubble off. Then go over with a rougher sandpaper like 400grit. If it leaves very deep marks go over with 600grit, then primer and go crazy with paint.

alright thanks martin.
soo i asked ryan to get the parts but i dont know exactly what i broke.
so i broke the nut with the bolt inside of it. so does it have a specific name?
or is it just the valve cover nut and valve cover bolt?