Side cover gasket leak

I recently had cause to remove the manifolds off of my 78 B. The rear side cover had what appeared to be a leak in the upper right hand corner. Does this make sense? Is there enough pressure in the internals to make it leak on the high side or should I place my focus higher up? Would it be more likely be the valve cover gasket? Does the manifold bolt furthest back on the engine penetrate the block wall enough to be a source of leakage?
It doesn't seem to be leaking much, but now that I've discovered it it will haunt me. I'm hesitant to replace the gasket for fear of making it worse. From what I've read here these things seem to be a perpetual pain.
Thanks for any advice,
Clint

Easy to change, I think you can get the rubber type ones now.

It could be the valve cover. Regardless, since you have the manifold off, replace the side cover gasket! Now is the time, not after the manifold is back in place.

THEY ARE a perpetual pain. It took me a few different gaskets and combos to get it working. I ended up with a cork gasket on the front AND the rear. The late model car is supposed to use the rubber ones---they didn't work for me. The front one was just too big and I couldn't get it to torque down without the thing going into the block, and the rear one was too small and I could not get it to stretch well enough inside of the cover in order to get it on the engine.

Check the actual cover. It could be all misshapen from torquing it too much. If that's the case find a good used one and mess around with gaskets till you find the right one. You only need to torque those things to 5 LB.

OR just buy one of those nice aluminum one piecers they're selling on here. That will really solve your problems.

Cheers!

Clint,

1) They are easy to replace. Just be careful that you do not over torque the bolts. The stock plates are prone to warping if over torqued.

2) Do a search on Basil Adams on this forum. He produces an aluminum replacement for the (prone to leak) stock covers. It is a quality product.

But if you go with one of the aluminum side covers, you will have to drill and build a breather for it.

John Twist recommends MGA cork gaskets for the side covers. They're thinner than the stock MGB gaskets.

Our local shop uses no gaskets, but only silicone sealant. Works on my 74.5...at least for that leak spot.

Forgot the picture - trying again below

In case you're interested:

I am not getting paid for this but I was one of the first ones to order this side cover, if I am not mistaken, I started the thread to get Basil to sell them to us... (correct me if I am wrong Basil) Anyway, it is awesome, no more leaks from side plates, no need to worry about the over torque on them, the only thing is that you are going to have to get it vented (easy and cheap thing to get done).

Indeed you are the one that volunteered me. I said I had made one for the racecar and the next thing I knew you posted that i was going to make them for everyone :-) I couldn't let that chalenge go unanswered and I'm happy to say that there haven't been any complaints yet (and they're cheap :-)

Basil, if you made those with a breather tube I'd buy two!

Okay, no I wouldn't. But I'd certainly buy one faster than you can say (insert difficult word or phrase here)
:)

Monte, I sent you a PM.