The covers may be bent.  The PO evidently pried on the edge of one of mine.
I just got  new covers and bails from Bus Depot.  The covers were $3.95
each and the bails were $1.75!  Dirt cheap.  Why fool with old, rusty
stuff.  You shouldn't need any adhesive if everything's straight.  I also
re-adjusted my valves Friday.  I went from zero-lash to about 1/2 turn.
All seems quiet and it still runs great.  I did notice the initial start-up
after going to 1/2 turn was not encouraging.  It stalled a few times.
After a 10 minute test run, the lifters seemed to adjust as they are
supposed to do.  Cold starts are good again and the lifters have been quiet
so far.

                                              Jay '85 Westy--The Hindenburg

"Greenamyer, William L" <William.Greenamyer@WEST.BOEING.COM> on 09/04/2001
12:25:17 PM

Please respond to "Greenamyer, William L"
      <William.Greenamyer@WEST.BOEING.COM>

To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:    (bcc: Jay L Snyder/AE/DuPont)
Subject:  VALVE COVER ADHESIVE

Did an adjustment on the valves this weekend.  Some of it went fine.  Seems
like some of the valves don't move the way I think they should or there is
some spots on the adjusting screws or something.  Haven't figured it out
yet.  Also, it seems that the last people to rebuild the engine appear to
have glued the valve cover gaskets into the covers.  Is there some adhesive
that is used for this?  I understood that you didn't use or need adhesive.
Just trying to find out what kind of a mess I might be getting myself into
if I start pulling out the gaskets and find that I am going to end up
having
to glue the new ones in to fix scratches or something in the present valve
covers.
Anyone got any ideas?
William