97 GTP Front Valve Cover Gasket

I need to replace the front valve cover gasket. Anyone have the instructions? Does the engine brace on the passenger side have to be removed to remove the valve cover? What are the torque specs and pattern for the bolts?

Thanks

Only the right side (passenger) dog bone engine mount and bracket gets removed. Leave the left engine mount intact. Also, to get to the far right side valve cover bolts you will need to remove the ignition control module/coil packs and the bracket. Valve cover bolt torque is 89 in-lbs.

The Haynes manual says to drain the coolant when replacing the valve cover gasket. Do I really need to do that?

No and I wonder why Haynes would suggest that. Important thing is to be careful when removing the valve cover because there may be some dirt that could drop onto the cylinder head/valve train. Just make it is all cleaned up to include the gasket surface areas.

So I went to two parts stores today and they are telling me that the valve cover gaskets for the 3.8 supercharged engine (I have a 97 GTP) are different than the ones for the 3.8 non-supercharged (and the GTP ones are at least $40 more too!). Is this true that the gaskets are different for the 3.8 and 3.8 S/C (This doesn't seem to make too much sense to me)? One of the guys at the stores said something about grommets with the S/C gasket. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Go to ZZPerformance.com and you can purchase them at a reasonable price. Or try Rockauto.com. The gaskets are different for the two engines and have different part numbers. Rock Auto has a set with groments for $42. The gaskets for the supercharged engine are more expensive that the ones for the non SC engine so they were right in both cases. Make sure you use the correct gaskets before changing them.