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I'm going to change the following on my car:

Exhaust manifold gasket (both sides)......

Intake manifold gasket......

valve cover gasket......


what is the best way to clean out the old gaskets, dirt and grime to insure a proper seal?, do i also need to add any additional material or sealant to the gaskets?

thanks,

the only gasket you might have trouble with might be the header gasket since but most of the time its an easy clean up.
FYI the intake mani uses 4 gasket rings, one for each runner so those are easy to take off since they are rubber, about $7 each. Same goes for the valve cover gasket, easy clean up and replacment since its really not glued in with rtv. you really dont need to use rtv sealant for any of the two.

unless you have a magnum/aluminum intake on your engine, the intake just has o rings that seal. as long as the head isn't corroded, some alcohol will clean up the surface and some good soap and water will clean the intake manifold. the exhaust will need a good gasket scraper and some care cleaning the head surface, maybe spray on gasket remover and a scratch pad to get it clean. the E manifold/header can be more aggressively cleaned as the metal is harder

Putty knife for big chunks, scotch brite/fine grit sandpaper for the little stuff, carb cleaner to finish it off.

The plastic TB says right on it not to use carb cleaner. I don't know if it applies to the IM, so I recommended good soap and water (thats what I used on mine). I just didn't want anyone blaming me if their plastic mani melted. the FSM states that it is coated with a flow enhancing coating, that is why they don't like carb cleaner.

yeah, I'll be careful with this one, I'm more worried about the exhaust side to be honest ...I'll use spray on gasket remover i guess for that one

as for the intake, I'll take it off and just soap it down .......

thanks,

Yeah, I don't know if carb cleaner will do anything to the intake, but why risk it. Castrol super clean works wonders for getting the grime off. If you let parts soak in it over night it takes carbon build up off fairly well too. Made cleaning my head before the valve job alot nicer.

occasional, just curios, at what millage did you get the valve job done? and what it as an upgrade or maintenance ?

i'm trying to figure out when to expect one on my car............

as for the cleaner, i have an old can of Gunk engine degreaser, i might use it for the intake, i would love to clean the exhaust manifold also, but since i don't feel like paying a $100 for a new )2 sensor, i'm going to "assume" it works fine unless proven other wise, and i am hoping that my hesitation issue (as discussed in the engine forum) is merely a vacuum leak caused by the gasket....

Had it done at 112,000, only because when I was trying to get the valve locks off (mag cam/springs timing belt, and the related stuff), I couldn't get enough air pressure to hold the valves closed, as the air was leaking past the exhaust valves. So after removing the head I found that there was so much carbon built up that the valves were being held off the seats just enough to bleed the air off. It ran like there wasn't any problem, don't know how as the ports were almost blocked off. The guides on the exhaust were out of spec too so that was the deciding factor other wise I would have just cleaned up the ports and bolted it back together. But when you've gone that far might as well make it worth while. A catch can is worth the effort after seeing my exhaust ports. I figure the guides were worn from the extra weight of the carbon globs hanging on them.

Edit: O2 sensor: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... ppfilter=1
If your not too picky about OEM parts...