ray wrote:
> ZombyWoof wrote:
>
>>>
>>> And for crissakes, why can't GM design a valve cover that doesn't
>>> leak? Or at least make them easy to get to like on the old cars - I
>>> had to dismantle 1/2 the accessories to get the valve covers off. I
>>> can pull the engine out of my race car in the time it takes to GET to
>>> the valve covers on this thing.
>>>
>>>
>>> Ray
>>>
>>
>> Because your race car was designed for easy engine pulls.
>
>
> Duh.
> (actually the race car is just a 70's Camaro.)
>
> Have you looked under the hood of a Blazer recently? The 4.3 is
> buried... you have to hunt for the plug wires under all the crap. At
> least on the wife's Beretta they have the valve covers nice and
> accessable. Of course, the coils are hidden but that's a tradeoff.
>
> To change the valve cover gaskets you have to disconnect the the air
> cleaner, the throttle body and injectors, pull the coil and bracket,
> remove a coolant crossover tube, remove the serpentine belt and
> alternator and probably more stuff that I forgot.
>
> Maybe I'm just grumpy because it was a lot of stuff to disconnect for
> what should be a simple job.
>
> But like I said, have they finally managed to design valve covers that
> don't leak and need to be changed every couple of years?
>
> That was one of the reasons we passed on a new Blazer - I can't see
> servicing that thing in 5 years as being anything but extremely difficult.
>
> Ray
I've got a '91 S-10 w/ a 4.3L and the plug wires on it were very easy to
get to and change.

My brother-in-law had an '87 S-10 with a 305 in it, and it wasn't really
that much harder to work on. Only thing was that the distributer was
pretty close to the firewall.

Of coarse the only difference in the block of a 4.3L and a small block
V8 is the length.