Finally replaced the M60 valve cover gaskets...

[632 Regal]

I figured I would spend 2 or 3 hours with cleaning those magnesium alloy melting metal things, popping new plugs/boots a couple heli-coils and new gaskets and be done... After all I did this on Nikka and don't remember any issues so it should be straight forward. Pulled the coils and dove right in.

First off the right side (passenger side US) was a PITA to remove. Clearance issues with the AC being so close caused a removal angle issue until I removed everything all around, still didn't easily come off. Driver side was much easier.

Cleaning... off to the wife with lots of soap and hot water. That didn't work very well even though the water mixture was black. Next step was brushes and lacquer thinner and mineral spirits. Fluid again black as could be, like nobody even tried in advance. Clean, clean and clean again, never ending dissolving of the magnesium alloy. Almost spooky at times. If I had the funds I would have joyfully bought a pair off ebay that were already bead blasted and ready for primer/paint. Scraped the cosmoline paint stuff kinda smooth, almost enough to paint. Let this dry for a bit and take care of the other odds and ends I guess.

Anyway this is sucking tons of time so they are good enough for now. Soaked up the oil at the bottom the best I could with absorbent towels, this took another hour for both sides! (lots of oil) Pulled to old plugs without issue, to this moment have not studied them. Cleaned the plug wells a bit more, visually inspected the new plugs and installed without issue.

Back to these illusive covers... Heli-coiled the 4 top plastic cover threads that were completely gone. There are 3 or 4 coil pack studs that might be iffy but I failed to mark the questionable ones. Checked with spacers and the nuts and none seemed to be real bad on the right side. The left side had an issue and the stud seemed to pull out so I tried screwing it in deeper, no deal! Ended up pulling it out with a nut and the end of the threads had some sort of epoxy or JB weld on it. Someone thought they could glue it and stick it back in the hole... jeez man.

Time to quit, 7 hours now and the covers aren't even painted. Kinda raining and everything is soaked in dew or something. Cover it up and try again in the morning.