1970 S2 Europa with Gordini head: need help finding valve cover gaskets

[Victoria1970]

I am new to the Europa community and new to Lotus ownership.  I am having difficulty sourcing valve cover gaskets for my 1970 Europa with Gordini cross flow head.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Grumblebuns]

Contact Steve Veris. He advertises on:

http://lotus-europa.com/forsale.html

[BDA]

Steve is a great guy. You'll be well served if he can help you!

[Serge]

Otherwise:

http://www.mecaparts.com

They're in France, but will ship worldwide.


Serge

[Victoria1970]

Otherwise:

http://www.mecaparts.com

They're in France, but will ship worldwide.


Serge

  Thank you; I will check with him.

[Victoria1970]

Otherwise:

http://www.mecaparts.com

They're in France, but will ship worldwide.


Serge

Thank you; much appreciated

[jbcollier]

I think a Renault Fuego 1.6L turbo uses the same gasket.

[DamianLynch]

I am in need of the same gasket.  Meca offers two options, a cork gasket (original?) or a fiber gasket (new).  Does anyone have a recommendation on which to use?

Apologies for my ignorance on this but I could swear that the PO said the gasket was rubber.  He also mentioned using beads of super glue to hold the gasket in place when reinstalling.  What do others recommend?  Finally, is there a torque spec that I need to be following on tightening the valve cover back down?  If no one know, I can reverse engineer it I guess.

EDIT: looks like the fiber gasket is for the 1600cc engine?

[MRN I J]

it was made of rubber & it is best using superglue to hold it on with that type of cover, the original pressed cover had a a rebate that held it in whilst you could put it together.

[magno_grail]

An alternative, download a free CAD program and draw the gasket. Get neoprene gasket material from McMaster (they have one with adhesive on one side) and send it to a laser cutting company such as Pololu and get an accurate, reusable gasket (as accurate as your drawing).

[DamianLynch]

So it has been a while and I have been a bit lazy at fixing the valve cover leak as it is only slight.  Even though it doesn't leak too much oil I am getting tired of cleaning up the engine bay after each ride so I am ready to get in there and attempt to fix it.  I have the rubber gasket from R&D and went to take off the valve cover and went to pull off the wires and get to it.  The wires are attached quite firmly and I am concerned about doing something wrong so I though I would check here first.  Can anyone give some advice on how to safely unattach these so I can get the valve cover off.  Where exactly is the spark plug head in relation to the top of the wire?  I know this is noob question but I am deathly afraid of screwing this up.

[DamianLynch]

OK so for others that are wondering about the spark plug tubes you need to rotate while pulling.  It doesn't matter if you rotate clockwise or counter clockwise just keep rotating.  If you try to pull straight the spark plug well seal will slide up the wire, giving you less to pull with.  It could also damage the wire contacts.

[GavinT]

Damian,
You'll probably find it easier to slide the tube seals up the wire before trying to detach the wire. If the wire terminal is tight, you then can get some long nose pliers on the terminal to avoid pulling the actual wire itself.

There are also a wide variety of special tools available for the purpose or it's easy enough to fashion an L shaped hook.