97 EX valve cover bolt seals

[ncegen]

I bought a valve cover gasket replacement kit. In the kit it came with the valve cover gasket, spark plug channel (?) gaskets and new gaskets for the bolts.
Valve cover is back on and I was trying to remove the metal/rubber seals on the bolts and the rubber is too stiff to go over the flare in the bolt.
How in the world do you remove these and install the new ones?
Am I just not man handling them enough? Or is there a trick to doing this?
Any help is very much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[ncegen]

We'll see. Looks easy enough.

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

On a side note make sure you don't overtighten the bolts when you put them back on! I believe they only need to be torqued between 8-10 pounds. Can anyone confirm this? If you can't torque them down, you can use a 1/4 ratchet (which are a lot smalled than 3/8) giving you a smaller lever arm, therefore making it harder to overtightening the bolts. Good luck.

 

[Diana Nam]

I bought a valve cover gasket replacement kit. In the kit it came with the valve cover gasket, spark plug channel (?) gaskets and new gaskets for the bolts.
Valve cover is back on and I was trying to remove the metal/rubber seals on the bolts and the rubber is too stiff to go over the flare in the bolt.
How in the world do you remove these and install the new ones?
Am I just not man handling them enough? Or is there a trick to doing this?
Any help is very much appreciated.
Thanks

you don't remove them from the bolt they come as one from factory

 

[ncegen]

New ones came with the kit.
I would guess that the rubber on those is in the same shape as the other gaskets.
I was able to remove two last night, huge pain in the ass.
Putting the new ones on was easy, after watching another video.
I will make sure not to overtighten. Small 1/4 inch wratchet is what I am using.
Thanks.

 

[Mtjohns71]

I replaced mine the other day, I broke the old brittle rubber ones off then oiled the new ones and popped em on. Was a real beech until I literally snapped em off with pliers

 

[HeX]

I bought new stainless steel bolts of the correct thread size and the 2 needed lengths and made my life easier. Theres just too much pressure needed to remove the old ones to keep fighting to remove them.

 

[lo-n-slo]

I coated them in oil, stuck it inside a spark plug socket and stepped on it using something flat...popped right in. As far as removing the old ones, I just destroyed them.