Here's what I do, tho maybe its overkill; First, I paint both sides of the gasket with (spray) truck bed liner rubberised paint. The hard, paintable kind.Then, I apply (with my finger) a thin coat of grease to the gasket surface on the motor.This is so the paint won't stick to it. Then I put a coat of silicone on the gasket surface of the cover, put the gasket on, pressing all around, put the cover on with all bolts finger tight, then turn each 1 more turn; don't want to squeese out the silicone. Come back the next day, remove, wipe motor surfaces with paper towel. Apply S*#T now I can't remember the name! Its the old school gasket sealer, been around forever. Comes in non-hardening or hardening.Anyway, I use the non hardening, apply to the motor side of the gasket, mount cover and tighten down. Same idea as above poster. If I need to adjust valves, for instance, I can remove cover, adjust valves, maybe add a little more of that stuff I can't remember the name of, and replace valve cover.I do this for everything but head gasket.For that I used kite string and this stuff I can't remember, draw the kite string thru it and roll between fingers till its saturated, then use string to make "O" ring.My hands look like crap for a few days, but my head gaskets never leak! ;-) Jim I know as soon as I post this, I'll remember the name.