speaking of valve cover gaskets...

[steveb@cme.nist.gov]

I went to change the VC gasket on my '85 5000S a few weekends ago
with a new rubber gasket that I got from Olympic Parts.  (It even
has the VW/Audi symbol and an Audi-looking part number on it.  Unfortunately
I don't have the part number in front of me.)

The problem: the new gasket has metal grommets to go over the studs
that hold the valve cover on.  These grommets appear to fit the studs...
except that the studs have a non-threaded section just before the top
of the head, and the grommets don't seem to fit onto those non-threaded
sections, with the result that the new gasket doesn't seat against the
top of the cylinder head.

Do I just need to apply more force to press on this new gasket?  It
didn't seem receptive to that idea at the time, but it was getting
dark and I didn't work at it very long.  Or did I get the wrong gasket?
It seemed to fit otherwise.

Thanks,
Steve

P.S.  I wanted to thank everyone for their help with my previous
laundry list of help requests; you've been very helpful and informative
and have saved me a ton of money so far.  :-)