hey guys I'm trying to change out the valve cover gaskets and have the car sorted for the 10th cruise for charity drive tomorrow. I'm hoping somebody around the southern Highlands of NSW would happen to have a couple valve covers they can part with cheap today. the valve cover gasket is stuck and I've been trying to remove it since 10am and still no where near finished

Mate,

When the rocker cover gaskets get a bit old & brittle they stick real hard. They kind of burn/melt on.

I used a large screwdriver under the flange that the plug/coil mounts to lever them off. Just be careful not to bend it too much!

If instead you've already got the rocker covers off but your problem is that the gaskets are hard & perished & stuck real hard inside them, I used liberal doses of WD40 and a small flat blade screwdriver to dig them out.

yeah the covers off and they've pretty much melted and glued themselves to the inside. I'm not even close to having them completely removed after attacking them all day

Just takes lots of elbow grease.

Took me about two hours to clean them out, one mm at a time.

been going for 6hrs non stop

on just one valve cover

I used a narrow bladed chisel on mine. Took a while though.
They get real brittle, but come off in chunks easily enough, unless someone glued them down. Got some solvent you can brush/spray on, paint thinners or stripper perhaps? Oven degreaser spray and leave for a few hours?

done that all. degreaser, paint thinner, wd40 even carb cleaner. its deadset like its glued down cause the gasket is still rubbery and pliable and I'm damaging the cover removing it. new covers are def on the cards now.