Valve Cover Girdles: Quadstar vs Leroy

[Big T]

Which is better:

6.5L VALVE COVER PLATE & STUD KIT

Valve Cover Hold Down Bracket to prevent warping and leaks. If you worked for the military in the past, you may have perfected the valve cover installation technique, but for most of us, this project can be a hassle. If you've ever finished your build only to have a pesky valve cover leak, you...

quadstartuning.com

 

[SnowDrift]

I can't comment on which is better because I've used neither. The thicker plates make more sense to me, however. It seems to be the thinner ones will distort and hot hold a uniform load. The best of both worlds would be a 1 piece thicker girdle. I'm speculating but I suspect the multiple pieces are for two reasons - 1) easier installation in the engine bay and 2) cost to produce. The parts can be nested together to use up less material. Using a 1 piece design requires all the material in the center to be scrap that still has to be paid for unless other parts can be made from the drop.

 

[MrMarty51]

I used the Leroy girdles.
First try was with not enough sealer under the covers so had leakage problems.
I also installed the girdles with the gaskets under them, between the cover and the girdle, and it seemed to quite easily bend the girdle under the nuts. I then pulled the girdles and flipped them to the opposite sides and wrenched them back to flat. I dont think I would have had to snug them down as tight as I did had I had enough sealer under the covers to prevent leakage.
Upon the second try, with enough sealer under the covers I installed the injector tube locater devices between two nuts. before I had installed nuts, then the tube retainers then another nut. The third time I installed the injector tube/pipe retainers direct onto the covers and the nut to hold them down, and then the retainers acted more like a clamping load spreader. I also purchased a set of wing style valve cover load spreaders like what is used on the SBC covers and drilled out the holes to slightly over 8mm to fit over the studs and that worked exceptionally well.
I think if the money was there, I would like to try a set from Quadstar Tuning as they are stainless steel and are much harder than the ones made of mild steel from Leroy. I think that the SS units would not bend so easily and would be much easier to get installed.
The Leroy units He tells of working the left side cover into position to clear the AC compressor pump mount, I found that to be very difficult and found it much easier to remove the T-Stat crossover and the AC compressor mount before making the Next attempt at installing the cover. Trying to work around the AC mount caused me to buff some of the sealer from the cover and that was the reason for the no.3 removal. It took three attempts but finally got it right.
I also discovered that the PS mount bracket can be easily removed without removing the PS pulley and that helps immensely. The lower/back mounting bracket bolt can be easily removed by going in through the inner fender well opening.
On the third attempt, I did goop My fingers with sealer and worked it onto the sealing ridge of the back of the cylinder heads. It was a bit messy for a while but that insured that even if some sealer got buffed from the cover there would be enough sealer in the right place to make the seal.