best sealing valve cover gasket on the market?

[moparman111]

Hi, swapping the black MP covers for a set of polished aluminum on my built lil 440 and I want to use a good sealing gasket now while its on the stand instead of it leaking down the road in the tight little fish. I have a set of Mr. Gasket 5877 hanging on the wall but I wasn't sure about them as they are basically cork. Now I am new to performance based engines but in the late 80 to very early 90's my dad had a '79 W200 with a tired 318 and I remember swapping one set of leaking cork gaskets after another (valve covers/tranny pan). When we swapped to a rubber the leaks stopped. So since I spend 95% of my time working on Cummins' trucks and they believe in nothing but rubber I thought I would reach out to some of my Mopar brethren and learn from your tried and true mistakes. So let me know? What cover gaskets (brand and part #) do you use and swear by to keep oil in the engine? Thank you

Specs, cast iron heads and brand new polished cast aluminum covers.

 

[EL5DEMON340]

Rubber ones

 

[moparman111]

I can only seem to find two or three options for full rubber.

Fel-pro #1611 rubber
Fel-pro #1612 rubber coated fiber
Moroso #93055 Perm Align rubber coated steel

The Moroso are pretty salty but I do think rubber coated steel is the best option.

 

[70aarcuda]

tight one...

 

[EL5DEMON340]

The cheap rubber ones are all I use . Don't need the steel core on that setup

 

[moparman111]

Thank you Demon. Just the cheap old Fel-pro #1611's will be what I try.

 

[trudysduster]

the #1611 is what I run on my 440. stay away from cork. matter of fact the # 1611 is the only one I can get to seal and not leak.

 

[moparman111]

Trudy, I appreciate the heads up. I learned a long time ago to stay away from cork. I will go with #1611's.

I know this seemed like a noob question but I thought I would ask what y'all ran and go with that.

 

[Bad Sport]

No love for the cork, lmao. I've never had them leak.

 

[trudysduster]

I am going to have to change my ID. The name is confusing.

 

[moparman111]

I apologize for that, LOL.

 

[jimjimjimmy]

No love for the cork, lmao. I've never had them leak.

x2

 

[txstang84]

No love for the cork, lmao. I've never had them leak.

Nor have I, but cork does have a shorter service life than the elastomer types, and less resilience to frequent removals, but that's only my experience.

 

[Bad Sport]

Nor have I, but cork does have a shorter service life than the elastomer types, and less resilience to frequent removals, but that's only my experience.

Oh heck yeah, I agree, they can be a maintenance item for sure.