Grrr.... So I was going to check my valve clearances. Took the cover off cold, so I could familiarize myself with the layout. The bolts were barely on there finger tight. (I have been smelling a little bit of burning oil, but no exhaust smoke). Checked it out, and put the cover back on, torqued them all down to 10 ft/lbs. No problem.

Went for a drive to warm up the car. No burning oil smell, and the idle seemed smoother. Came back, took the cover off, checked the clearances - they were fine. Put the cover back on, started torquing. 3 out of the 8 were fine - click. The other 5 got to a certain point and the wrench just kept on twisting. Well s**t. So I undid them all and just tightened them by hand to where I could feel a good amount of resistance on each one.

Wish I had just left the cover on after torquing them down the first time! So I guess I have stripped threads, although the bolts are able to be tightened down to maybe 5 ft/lbs, if I had to guess. It seems to be holding the vacuum and oil in, (idle is still good) but i guess I should do something about it.

Anyone ever tried the Permatex or Loctite stripped thread repair? It says "good for valve covers", but the torque specs they give don't really seem high enough. I hate to have to helicoil them all, since it's just a weekend car.

 

you might be able to just re-tap them its just the valve cover, but you striped the threads in the head not the valve cover itself, i have one stripped in my SX i was just going to drill it out lightly so all the threads get cleaned away and re-tap it the next sized up. helicoil is crappy, you can try it but they hardly ever work for me plus i dont know if there make a set small enough. they might

 

yeah, tap the threads to stock size, if that doesnt work, helicoil, if that doesnt work, drill and tap the holes to the next size up and get some studs.

 

i used helicoil on some b4 and they worked great, quick and simple, just amke sure the shavings from drilling dont go in the engine

 

dam torque wrenches always twisting off the right setting.... if your gonna bore and retap the hole keep those shavings out of the head or else!!!...

 

Well well, I will say the sane thing retap to the same size that usually works... and next time do not be in a rush relax have a beer or wine put them by hand with an extension an then torque. Music is important listen to your favorite Led Zepelling CD.
Mayitin

 

Thanks everyone. I will put Physical Graffiti on and try retapping them when I get a chance.

 

Haha... Have fun. I have been putting mine in with a small 1/4" drive, and no torque wrench. You can feel the pint of no return on a bolt when you get used to it. Have not stripped one, and I don't have any leaks. 10 ft/lbs is great, but after how many times? It's only aluminum. You should be able to get them tight enough with a screwdriver style driver.

Sorry to hear about it. Nothing more that I hate than stripping a hole, or breaking off bolts. I do that at work often enough to make up for all the home jobs.

Use a dab of heavy bearing style grease around the tap when threading. Not in the hole, but around it. Should help catch any debris. A light thread tapping oil, or kerosene should be used when tapping into aluminum.

 

yeah i like how the Z32 uses Philips screws on one two of the valve covers so i can just tighten it down as much as i can with that and worry more about stripping the head of the screw than the threads.

 

with any relatively small bolts that don't require much torque I've taken to putting the small 1/4" sockets on the screwdriver handle and tightening them that way and then if I really feel like it's needed take an open ended wrench and tighten it just a little so that I can't loosen it with the spinner handle.

 

i just choke up ALL the way on the socket wrench so my palm is right over the actual drive of it then you can feel whats tight and what not. plus its hard to put alot of stress on it that way