Valve Covers - How's it look

Hey all,
I was working on replacing my valve covers today.. Unfortunately after pulling the drivers side I realized I must have cracked it when I tightened the bolts to slow the leaks... Make sure to follow torque specs everybody..

So it looks like I will have a few days with the top end taken apart waiting for replacement covers, and I wanted to get some feedback from those smarter than me about the state of my valve train, and some ancillary questions about this job, not really covered in the 100s of other valve cover gasket threads.
It looks decent to me, but I've never seen one before so I would love some feedback to see if anyone sees any red flags while I am in here





The wiring harness cover also completely fell apart in my hands, so I will be rewrapping the whole thing in tape. Will that be sufficient or with the proximity to the heat of the engine do I need to source a replacement?

I also noticed that the block intake it was extremely dirty and covered in carbon deposits..




The intake plenum has a similar, but not quite as bad, build up that I plan on cleaning, but I have no idea how I could clean this without flooding the block with chemicals and carbon.. Is this pretty normal or something I should be worried about?

Also, in the spaces between the block intake and the valve covers, I have a horrible buildup of oil dirt grime and just shit, is there any secret to cleaning this area? Its covered by the fuel lines and surrounded by the intake and valve train, making it hard to access, and easy to push the dirt into areas it shouldn't go..

 

All looks pretty normal. Looks a little dark maybe someone skimped on oil changes. Electrical tape around the harness is fine. The buildup inside the intake is about normal. Mine looked pretty similar at 300k.

 

How many miles on it?

 

All looks just fine to me. Little bit of oil varnish but that's to be expected. You could make that go away if you changed your oil every 3,000 miles with full synthetic for a few oil changes in a row. But I don't personally think it's worth it since that varnish is very minor

 

Shes got about 288k

 

Looks about normal. I change my oil more regularly and there's a bit less varnish but you won't hurt anything. All is good under the hood.

 

Thanks for the feedback everybody. Glad to hear nothing looks too bad. I've been pretty good about oil changes between every 5-7k, think I'll drop that down to 4-5k from now on though.

 

Looks good, here's a Pic of a JDM engine I put in my truck about 10mos ago. With whatever mileage they claim. I'm happy with it. Running strong. I did valve cover gaskets before install.

 

That’s just a nice patina

 

You get a normal from me too. FWIW my varnish level was comparable and I do 5k oil changes w/ a full synthetic. So take that for what it's worth. I just passed 270k.