? about Head install....

[bourkeco]

It says in my Chilton Man.. to use locktight on the head bolts... That does not sound right to me??????

Help!!!

[Patman]

NEGATIVE! NO LOCKTITE.....

Clean the threads thoroughly and confirm your bolts will run in smoothly and easily.

Dip the bolts in motor oil and install per the instructions that came with your head gasket.

That is what I was taught.

Good luck!

Patman in Tehachapi

[tjones02]

NEGATIVE! NO LOCKTITE.....

Clean the threads thoroughly and confirm your bolts will run in smoothly and easily.

Dip the bolts in motor oil and install per the instructions that came with your head gasket.

That is what I was taught.

Good luck!

Patman in Tehachapi

+1 but only a small amount of oil on the threads, like a few drops. I is pofessional and do work many times. :b...

Pat mentioned cleaning the threads... I recommend not only cleaning the bolts but chasing the threads on the bolts AND in the block. There is a set sold by Sears Craftsman they call a Rethreadder set. Item# 00952105000 Mfr. Model# 52105

http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_10155_12602_00952105000P?keyword=rethreader&sLevel=0&prop17=rethreader

For less money you can buy the individual thread chasers "tap" and "die" in the 12x1.5mm thread size from Snap-On for much less. #TRT56 for the tap and #TDM56B for the die.

TAP: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?search=true&item_ID=9649&PartNo=TRT56&group_id=1145&supersede=&store=snapon-store&tool=all

DIE: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=9651&group_ID=1145&store=&dir=catalog

Then blow the old oil out of the cylinder head bolt holes in the block with a blow gun...

BTW, good reading on thread chasers vs. taps...

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/thread-chaser-vs-tap-163154.html

HTH

[c.d.iesel]

[john_a]

[

+1 but only a small amount of oil on the threads, like a few drops. I is pofessional and do work many times. :b...

For less money you can buy the individual thread chasers "tap" and "die" in the 12x1.5mm thread size from Snap-On for much less. #TRT56 for the tap and #TDM56B for the die.

HTH

For M10 headbolt install, there is no use for M12 x1.5 taps & dies (although they are useful elsewhere on the car, for sure!)

M12x1.75 is the correct thread on the cylinder head bolts.

I'm thinking this same confusion has popped up on this board before, but the answer has not changed.

I always chase threads, but also I use stainless steel tube brushes on an electric drill to clean the threaded holes, and solvent & compressed air (cover the hole exit with a rag, so as not to spray your face.)

The extra long tube brushes are great to clean out the oil galleries in the block, when you have taken it down that far. Stainless steel brushes are best, just in case you want to hit some aluminum parts as well. Regular carbon steel brushes leave too much ferrous material torn from the wires that gets imbedded in the substrate, enough to where you can see them as iron rust on your aluminum parts. Stainless is worthwhile for what it does not leave behind.

[TobyB]

yeah, where the loctite came from is a mystery.

I DISAGREE pretty strongly about running a tap into a head bolt hole.

The problem arises with 'class of fit'- there are actually 5 classes in

the Imperial version, and I think metric's similar.

What you get in a hardware store is often a class looser than BMW used,

and so you take a noticable amount of metal out.

That's probably OK, but it bugs me, so I don't do it or recommend it.

The coolest thing I have come up with is attaching a bit of

small tubing to the shop vac and sucking the oil, water and bits

of crud out of the threads that way. Then a good clean

(YES to the stiff- ish brush) with your flavor of solvent, and another

vacuum.

Then a couple of drops of motor oil, and you're good to go.

I DO preinstall the bolts in the head and measure the grip range to make sure

there's adequate range to clamp things securely- my 'rule of thumb'

is to make sure the bolt goes in 1/4" or so further than it will need to.

hth

t

ps, the thread thing doesn't apply at all to damaged or rusty threads.

And I don't think you'll have a failure if you do it. It just bugs me

to cut extra metal out of a casting if I don't need to.

t