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6,106 Posts
Well, welcome to the forum. The 318s are long lasting engines, so don't jump to conclusions of replacing it just yet. As far as the valve covers go, if you have to take pictures to show the routing of the different items crawling all over the place, take them, it helps the first time. Old gaskets leak, and when they leak they make a mess, so clean the area before you remove the covers, it helps all the way around.
After the covers are off, clean the surfaces really good, a solvent is good to cut the grease to have clean metal, RTV sticks better to clean metal than oily metal. If the bolts (3/8ths and 7/16ths) have been tightened, when you remove the valve covers and have cleaned everything, run some 320 grit and a flat something along the valve cover gasket surface. If you see there is mostly shiny around the bolt holes, dimple them so the bolts squish the gasket over a larger area than just the bolt hole. I usually use a 2X4 or other soft block of wood and then use a bolt one or two sizes larger than the valve cover bolt holes, place the board under the outside edge of the bolt hole, use the bolt over the bolt hole and give it a good wack so the metal now squishes the gasket along the valve cover lip, not right at the bolt hole.
After the covers are off, clean the surfaces really good, a solvent is good to cut the grease to have clean metal, RTV sticks better to clean metal than oily metal. If the bolts (3/8ths and 7/16ths) have been tightened, when you remove the valve covers and have cleaned everything, run some 320 grit and a flat something along the valve cover gasket surface. If you see there is mostly shiny around the bolt holes, dimple them so the bolts squish the gasket over a larger area than just the bolt hole. I usually use a 2X4 or other soft block of wood and then use a bolt one or two sizes larger than the valve cover bolt holes, place the board under the outside edge of the bolt hole, use the bolt over the bolt hole and give it a good wack so the metal now squishes the gasket along the valve cover lip, not right at the bolt hole.