It's official, I am a moron
 

So this afternoon I was replacing my valve cover gasket. anyways, everything goes right until it's time to torque the bolts down. Since I am a moron, or illiterate (I dont know), I mistook the torque specs on the m.net valve cover replacement diy. It said something along the lines of 40-80 inch pounds. For whatever reason, I thought it said foot pounds. I thought that was really high (I think most car lug nuts are torqued at 80) but if m.net said it, it must be right. Anyways, you can pretty much guess what happens.. snap! Luckily only one bolt snapped, and picked up a replacement at the hardware store. I checked all the other bolts and none of them were broken, but since they were shitty chrome bolts, a few of them look a little stretched out.

Has anyone used the r-speed valve cover bolts? I'm also considering just getting a dozen bolts from the hardware store and just polishing them with my dremel so they look nice.

Also, since I overtorqued the bolts, will it mess up my gasket? I didn't notice any leaking around the valve cover but I only ran the car for a little while. Obviously when I get the new bolts I will retorque the cam cover, but this time I will make sure I use inch pounds. I just dont want the gasket to be leaky and have to spend another $30 on a new one. Or, if I replace the bolts, I will have to replace the gasket as well.

cliffnotes: I'm an idiot.

the only time i ever use a torque wrench is doing the clutch.

My valve cover gasket is leaking, as is my CAS. To the point of being annoying to fix. Sigh -_-

^^ What he said, I just tighten it until it's tight.

Only way to know if you screwed up the gasket is to run it and watch closely for leaks- externally as well as down the spark plug wells. Even if you have to replace it, $30 is getting off pretty cheap considering you applied an order of magnitude more torque than specified. Be thankful it wasn't something more critical and expensive. :bigtu:

yeah that's true Scott. I'm happy that even the broken bolt didn't snap and get stuck. I heard the bolt pop, I loosened it and it looked like it twisted, but fortunately didn't snap or anything. When it was in my hands I just twisted and it fell apart lol.

I might just do wrench tight when I replace the bolts. I just dont know if I should replace the gasket while I'm doing it. It's a lot easier than I thought it was, except for this issue I had. The most tedious part is getting the old gasket crap off the head. I might also observe if it leaks over a period of time.

lol @ losers torquing valve covers.

:cry:

Me, neither. After 35 years of wrenching, I'm pretty confident I know when things are tight enough.

if its not a critical part then fuck factory torque specs......use mine! (UUUGGGHHHHHHHHHH 1/4 turn!)

driveshaft bolts to, thats just me!

Clutch bolts, head bolts, main bolts, rod bolts, eccentric bolts, and lugnuts. The rest are generally by feel.

i generally let somebody else fuck with that for me! hehe

I dig the mullet...

I torque everything to German spec.... Gudentight.

When I lived in Germany I knew a girl who was like that...






I just had to.

None of you torque your lugs?

i dont.....although i probably should!

I ended up buying a torque wrench after shearing a bolt off on my other car... the bov/bpv leaked really bad driving to home depot but since then I really don't use it all that much except something like motor mounts or lug nuts

My air impact on setting 3 out of 6 seems to work fine for me. I work up to setting 3 in a cris-cross pattern.

How many put anti-seize on their lug threads?

Hell no. I use a breaker bar, and put my foot on it until it feels right. I've got the magic feel.

I'm pretty much in the clutch bolt, and any other critical engine bolt/nut boat. Water pump bolts, oil pump bolts, any bolt or nut on a bearing, everything else I can do to feel no problem.

I use a torque wrench for most "important" stuff, and I use Loctite way too much!

Beats having shit coming loose or falling off though!

I've never used anti seize on lug threads, I dont think you're supposed to?

I do it.

I do. Try working on a 10 year old car here in the rust belt, and you'll know why. I've snapped off lugs trying to get a wheel off. And no, I have never had one loosen on me.

Re: loctite and nev-r seize. A little goes a long way. Most people use way too much.

hmm, looks like I have a new habit to pick up. has anyone used antiseize where the back of the wheel meets the hub? I pulled the wheels off my bmw a few weeks back and it was like frozen to the hub.

I do that, plus anti-seize (a smidge) on the spark plugs. That squeaky noise they make when they come out makes my teeth hurt. Funny story though. I was putting my engine together, and i was trying to be hardcore with torque specs, and let me tell you this. lb/ft torque wrenches aren't accurate down low. So i was converting in/lb into ft/lb and failed epically. So many trips for new bolts. So, lesson to be learned. If it feels tight enough, it usually is.

I do it on any vehicle that does not have the wheels pulled off at least once every 6 months. Hit the hub with the wire wheel and the aluminum rim with a scotch brite pad to get any excess corrosion off.

Sounds good. I'll do hand tight when I get new bolts for the valve cover. what exactly did you bust up?

thats a good idea about the wire wheel, I'll do it next time when I pull the wheels off. it's crazy because I only put them in on March and they were already seized up. it freaks me out to hit the wheels to get them off, even if it's with a rubber mallet.

It's called galvanic corrosion (road salt plus water is the ionic solution that aids the reaction). I use anti-sleaze on anything that usually takes effort to break loose and that I may need to take off at some point in the future (brake disk to wheel interface, lug studs, spark plugs, shock bolts, ball joints, tie rods, etc.)

I change wheels so much, I don't bother with anti-sieze on the lugs...nor do I use a tq. wrench. I use a good 'ole 4-way and I'm usually about 10ft/lb over spec (have measured my "feel" to a tq. wrench).

Don't hit them. Slowly drop the car back down (GENTLY!) and let the weight shear them off. Then clean up the corrosion and put a very light smear of grease or nev-r seize on the mating surface. One large pea sized dab is plenty per wheel. More than that, and you're just gonna make a mess.

I'm not sure how I feel about that since it has wheel bolts.. unless I threw in a couple bolts loosely just to make sure the wheel doesnt fall off

I'm actually lucky enough to have a calibrated elbow that pops at the proper torque.

:bowrofl:

I usually put a few drops of oil on the lug studs to keep the threads from wearing. I pull the wheels constantly, and it makes them last much longer. Anti-sieze would lubricate too, but I never go through the hassle.

I never put spark plugs in without anti-sieze.