Hi i am after info on rear bank and rocker cover, changing plugs, do you need to buy gaskets for the plenum intake manifold or can you use something like silicon gasket stuff and roughly can it be done in a couple of hours, or is there a good mechanic in the hills area, blacktown to parramatta.
thanks any info would be helpful and much appreciated.

intake plenum is a metal gasket so you can reuse it aslong as there is not cracks or bent, if your doing rear plugs, id do rocker cover/tube seals if they havent been touched in some time

id say 2-3 hours for a first timer MAX

thanks for your help, seals are worn oil is present round outside of rocker cover just starting

Definitely do the gasket and tube seals while you're doing the plugs. Taking the plenum off is painful the first time you do it.

Where can you buy the gasket from? or is it best to use the silicon gasket stuff like he says in the first post?

to do the rocker cover do you need to drain the oil?

No you don't need to drain the oil to do the rocker cover gaskets. The gaskets can be had from Supercheap for about $30 per side. You can also buy the kit including the tube seals online. They are inexpensive.

thanks for your help jobs done, do you know of any good mechanics in sydney i have some other mechanical problems also to fix.

What else do you need fixed?

I just did mine. Gaskets wth tube seals (both banks) for $55 from sprint auto parts.

Also fitted platnium plugs.

Took me 20 mins to do front bank and an hour and a half to do rear, was messy as my car is on lpg.

mits fix gets delivered to your door :-)

Did mine the other day.. bout $55 + plugs.
I know rocker cover bolts are basically hand tighten but I cant help putting the socket on them and going for broke. Flattened the rear gasket so bad I'm sure it'll leak again soon.
The feeling of tightening against rubber just makes me wanna put 50 lbs through them

Did mine the other day.. bout $55 + plugs.
I know rocker cover bolts are basically hand tighten but I cant help putting the socket on them and going for broke. Flattened the rear gasket so bad I'm sure it'll leak again soon.
The feeling of tightening against rubber just makes me wanna put 50 lbs through them


Durrr! 3.5 Nm on those little 10 mm bolts. Now no one has a low range torque wrench to use, so perhaps tighten to take up slack, then half a turn? Just a guess though.

(Then again you could put a 10 mm socket on them, with a breaker bar and go for broke. lol Will the bolt snap or the head loose a lump of alloy first? lol)*

*Last statement was sarcastic in intent, DON'T try that at home, children!

Actually, I need to do mine soon. Might look around for a 1/4 inch drive low range torque wrench. Just to be sure.

just curious on the procedure to get to the back valve bank in my tj vrx. im planning to do both front and back valve cover gaskets along with seals and spark plugs/leads. since this is my firts tine i not sure on weatger i can disconect the intake manifold without having to take of in the throttle bottle and just move it out of the way enough to get to the bank..... or do i need to drop the throttle body right off abd completly remove it from the area????? help

That's not really the proper way to do it. It can be done though. Just don't put too much stress on the wiring and vacuum lines back there.

so it would be best to disconect the throttle body and take the intake manifold out.

Correct. It gives you a clean working area too.

I just removed TB from plenum (4 or 5 bolts) let it hang on cooler lines and removed upper plenum. Seemed easy enough.
A couple of the rear bolts were a pain to get to, depends what model you've got I think. I had to loosen timing covers to get rocker covers back on and aligned properly.

My mechanic said he just pulls off plenum and shoves the whole lot aside / props it up. Takes him 1 hour to change front and back including seals. Gotta love rattle guns... took me 3 i reckon.

Edit: If your changing seals chances are your rocker gasket will be stuck to the inside or the cover groove nicely. I used a thin flat head screw driver to slide/lever it out. It broke off in chunks and was very hard to remove (definitely factory), you will most likely open up the groove while removing the old one if its difficult to get out.
Just remember to use a set of pliers to close up the slot to its original size or the gasket may spread and not seal well over time.
(Thanks Madmagna for this tip)

very helpful thanks Magmad

Always reform the cover or it will leak very fast again and also the gasket may fall out and pinch.

Add to this dont use sealant as will only serve to clog up the cover next time you need to do this.

Lastly always make sure the cross over hose, PCV and Breathers are all clean both inside the hoses as well as in the covers. Generally as the cross over hose goes hard particularly on the rear bank I will normally replace this when I do this job