Rear Valve Cover EGR Clearance

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It is now my turn to replace a rear valve cover gasket on a 1MZ engine 2001

I want to remove the egr only at the intake plenum for the reason written below and remove the valve cover.

Has anyone removed the rear cover sucessfully with the egr unit/pipe laying above above it ?


The egr pipe nuts on the head of the engine are rusted and I can predict that they will snap. Even the nuts on the egr pipe attached to the egr unit are rusty but not as bad. If I have to I can spray these with PB but I scared they may also snap. Now the nuts attached to the plenum are decent and I doubt they will snap plus I have been soaking them with PB.

The valve cover appears have been designed to allow it to be raised even with the egr pipe and egr unit sitting over the valve cover. The cover has a LOW profile in that area compared to the rest of the cover. This allows enough room to raise the cover. Also there is a even LOWER profile or groove on the valve cover in the same area Directly below the egr pipe/unit. The width of the recessed groove on the cover appears to to the same as the egr pipe above. This may have been designed to raise the cover even more.

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This image needs to be rotated CC 90 degrees to view properly without twisting your neck.

This is a image of the rear valve cover and the EGR unit (front view) as it goes over the valve cover.. Notice the valve cover is height is lower in this location. Also there is a channel on the valve cover directly below the EGR unit and appears to be the same width more or less.
The harness is in the way put I believe it can be moved out of the way by removing the bolt that holds the harness to the cover.

Do you think there is clearance to remove the valve cover with only the EGR dettached at the plenum ?

Better yet if someone has actually done this the better.

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Rotate this image CC 90 degrees, sorry.


This is another angle from the back looking at the rear valve cove in relation to the EGR pipi. Notice the rusty nut(s) from the top of the EGR pipe to the EGR flange. I don't really want to remove these because they may snap.

Do I have a shot at removing the valve cover with the pipe in the way ?
Has anyone actually attempted it ?