Saturn Repair: saturn 96 sw2 valve cover gasket, valve cover gasket, clitons

Question
i have a 96 saturn dohc sw2 station wagon and am replacing the valve cover gasket i bought the hayes repair manual and it says there is a pattern to retighten the cover bolts and it said to follow the diagram but my book did not contain this diagram and i am wondering if you can tell me the proper way to tighten these bolts down.
thank you
kenny bruce

Answer
Hi Kenny,
It is kinda' funny because different printings of the Haynes and Clitons manuals have different tightening sequnces.  Basically, you should follow a criss cross type of pattern, first, hand tighten all the bolts, then lightly snug each corner then the middle of one long side and then cross to the middle of the other long side, then move clockwise around the valve cover staring left of one corner, left of the next corner and so on. basically, try to think of a clock and move to the opposite side of each number on the 'clock' for your pattern.  It isn't as critical as you may think.  Just tightening a little at a time is the main thing to worry about. I'll typically go around the pattern 4 or 5 times before I reach the torque spec for the bolt.
Thanks for asking. GoodLuck,
Greg Moore
www.taylorgolfsupply.com