The bolts that secure the valve cover have a stepped shoulder-you will feel the bolt bottoming out when it hits that shoulder so it just needs to be 'snugged up'. If you have doubts about your ability to 'feel' what snugged means then use a torque wrench.

 

Thanks, its probably handy to have a torque wrench in my toolbox anyway so it may be a good excuse to buy one :P
Found the appropriate page in the workshop manual, so should I apply the permatex sealant to only the areas indicated in the below picture, or all around?



Cheers

 

The half moon's will stop the leak but I apply it to the entire perimeter-I figure that it's easier to do it while I have the cover off. Only downside is that you will need to use care when removing the v/c for your next service-you may need to use a blade to break the bond of the sealant, it can be pretty tenacious.

 

Thanks, I may just apply it to the half moon, as the rest seems pretty tight and see how it goes.

 

Alright this afternoon I've removed the head cover, cleaned up some of the old sealant, now I have a few questions about reassembly :P

I was trying to test fit the gasket into the head cover, it seems a little to small like it may have shrunk, I can just get one to sit in the groove, then it pops out when working on the other half, is this usual? Should I just buy a replacement gasket?

Is it best to sit the gasket on the top cylinder head, then put the cover back on. I don't think it would work if I tried it the other way, to seat the gasket in the cover lid first? As when I turn it over its likely going to fall out.

Thanks again.

 

put it on the head and fit cover over it

 

I wonder if the OP has one of those '09 gaskets that were somewhat defective and shrunk? This was reported by some here on the forum.

 

My '09 had one of those shrinking cam cover gaskets. I'm under the impression it was just some of the '09s that had that issue but perhaps there has been another batch of bad ones.

 

Yes mine is an 09! For the sake of a few $$$ I'll just get another gasket.
But I'm curious if my current one may have shrunk. Should I be able to seat the gasket in the head when off the bike? I'm guessing that it should fit?

Cheers

 

I made sure I had the new one at hand before I took the cam cover off. I did try reusing the shrinking one, no way. Well maybe with lots of glue. There was a batch where they got the material wrong or something.