Newbee Screw Ups (bolts)

[grumpyvette]

see a whole bunch of silly mistakes (I EVEN MAKE A FEW) but the one I can,t get my mind around, and see all the time is the guys that FORCE stuff thats OBVIOUSLY NOT FITTING OR THREADED CORRECTLY.....now IM not talking about tapping something into place with a plastic hammer, ...Im talking about the silly mindless stuff like trying too thread metric bolts into parts threaded for S.A.E. threads, or vice versa, I mean come on! after a turn or two its obviously binding!! if youve got the least experiance you reach for a thread gauge or a new bolt and verify the thread size and pitch, you don,t force it and screw up the threads or crack the part, or you reach for a tap or die set and clean the threads, put some oil or loctite or anti-seize on the threads, check the length, dia, pitch and location, do you have the correct bolt??? :thumbsup: yet I see guys install parts like headers, and when the header bolts bind after a turn or two, out comes the long ratchet, after a few turns out comes the breaker bar, and its still binding, so rather than check why Ive even seen guys reach for an 1/2" drive phnematic impact driver, at what point do you think that little voice in your head starts screaming.....HOLD IT, THOSE CYLINDER HEADS COST $3000, maybe, just maybe I should check out WHY the bolts binding???:spanked: BEFORE I CRACK THE CYLINDER HEADS

or I see guys who thread a bolt in for an inch or more finger tight, then when it it seems it bottoms out and the heads not tight against the washer they reach for a breaker bar...., never thinking the bolts the wrong length, or in the wrong location

Ive seen two friends very expensive cylinder heads cracked this way and a transmission seriously screwed up thru simply lack of paying attention and forcing sthe wrong bolt into the wrong hole this month alone (NO! I WAS NO WHERE NEAR AT THE TIME!) but I sure got called to diagnose misteryous leaks

 

BTW if your taking something apart and your not totally familiar with the process and parts ,LABEL the bolts in a zip lock bag, use majic marker and masking tape, as to original part and location(and it sure won,t hurt even if youve done it a dozen times) sure it takes a few minutes, but its better than needing to tear it apart and replace expensive components due to carelessness)

[wheelman]

Grumpy,

This post reminds me of an incident I witnessed and was adversely affected by.

Back in the late 80s I was in the Airforce and living in base housing so I was surrounded by a bunch of aircraft mechanics. I had purchased a 1970 Ford pickup with a 289 and C4 and had a built 302 sitting in my car port from a different project (long story).

My neighbor (one of those aircraft mechs) and I decided to swap in the 302. Everything went fine until it came time to tighten the bolts to pull the transmission up to the engine. Just before we lowered the engine into the bay I had installed the torque converter and thought I had it fully seated into the transmission but didn't. Everything lined up fine but there was about a 1/2" gap between the engine and tranny so my neighbor starts tightening the bolts to draw the engine and transmission together (the engine was still hanging on the hoist chains). The bolts got real tight but the gap remained, my neighbor is running the wrench (he's the aircraft mechanic after all), instead of taking everything apart to see what's wrong he just pulls harder on the wrench and finally puts enough pressure on one of the engine block mounting ears to break it off. Needless to say I was a bit upset and shocked that he didn't know better, he hurried home and left the rest of the install to me.

Fortunately I was able to use some JB weld to fix the ear and finish the swap, it would have been a huge mess if he'd broken something I couldn't easily and cheaply fix.

 

This is a perfect example of what you were talking about.

 

Wheelman

[grumpyvette]

EXACTLY!! if something won,t fit...STOP!.....take the effort and find out the reason,..... DON,T FORCE IT!

[Pop N Wood]

I don't even trust the excessive torque method of checking bolts anymore.

 

SAE bellhousing bolts will thread right into an LS block using nothing but one finger on a 1/4 inch ratchet.

 

Ask me how I know.

 

After that fiasco I am flat out paranoid about mixing SAE and metric hardware. From now on I check for bolts sizes in a shop manual and put a pitch guage to everything.

 

And I sure as hell don't trust vendors to ship the right hardware with their bellhousings.