These are the 5/16" cork/rubber lam. w/ steel core valve cover gaskets. I know I can reuse them, but will it accelerate leaking? Should I just put on new ones? I'm pulling the covers for a retorque. I use OEM 87 VC's on my AFR165's.
As long as the cork doesn't stick to the VC's and rip, you can reuse them for quite a while. I have the same gaskets, and I've had them installed for a little over a year now. I've had the VC's off at least 5 times, most recently last weekend, and I get no leaking. The bottom side of the gasket has gotten pretty soaked with oil, but it still doesn't leak... just keeps it from sticking to the valve covers .
Thanks Dave - I just went and picked up some new ones, so I'll just keep them around for if they are needed later.
When tightening them, I did squish them a bit. I hope that's OK (as reuseability is concerned)... Maybe I should get some lockwashers and not tighten them down so much. I was just going to pull them down to 10 lb-ft and before I got there, I noticed the gasket was squished to about 1/2 of it's original height up along the top corners. So I just quit there.
Hell... I'm still using my stock VC gaskets... The first time taking them off the stock heads was a pain, but now they come off and go on easily. No leaks, no problems