So I decided to replace my cam seal today. I got a really nice STR anodized red plug with two O rings. It fits perfectly and will hopefully stop my oil leak.
I also went to Sears today and bought a brand new $90 digital torque wrench (not electronic, just shows numbers). Everything was going well until I decided to put on the valve cover. I started with the center bolt and worked my way around with the torque wrench set at 8.5 lbs. After I tighten them all I go back to the center to make sure it's still snug. I turn it but the wrench never snaps. I'm thinking that it's still a little loose after I tightened all the others. WRONG! The cheapass Honda bolt is stripped!
My wrench is set to specs. The proper torque for valve cover bolts is 8.3 lbs and I had my wrench set at 8.5 lbs. If you are going to tell me that .2 lbs strips a bolt then I've got a bridge to sell you. It's just the simple fact that Honda uses some cheap ass alloys for their bolts. How many of you have stripped the oil plug? I broke off two of the 3 bolts that connect my b pipe when I replaced my header--and that was loosening them!
On a sidenote, I didn't pull the valve cover off again, but how do you replace the central bolt? Is it just one of those double threaded/sided bolts that you unscrew and replace? I may just leave it because there is no play in the bolt and it's still on there reasonably tight. I'll just have to check for oil in the spark plug well.
WHY DOES HONDA USE THESE WEAKASS BOLTS!!!!
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97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.
Originally posted by fmshaw1971 So I decided to replace my cam seal today. I got a really nice STR anodized red plug with two O rings. It fits perfectly and will hopefully stop my oil leak.
I also went to Sears today and bought a brand new $90 digital torque wrench (not electronic, just shows numbers). Everything was going well until I decided to put on the valve cover. I started with the center bolt and worked my way around with the torque wrench set at 8.5 lbs. After I tighten them all I go back to the center to make sure it's still snug. I turn it but the wrench never snaps. I'm thinking that it's still a little loose after I tightened all the others. WRONG! The cheapass Honda bolt is stripped!
My wrench is set to specs. The proper torque for valve cover bolts is 8.3 lbs and I had my wrench set at 8.5 lbs. If you are going to tell me that .2 lbs strips a bolt then I've got a bridge to sell you. It's just the simple fact that Honda uses some cheap ass alloys for their bolts. How many of you have stripped the oil plug? I broke off two of the 3 bolts that connect my b pipe when I replaced my header--and that was loosening them!
On a sidenote, I didn't pull the valve cover off again, but how do you replace the central bolt? Is it just one of those double threaded/sided bolts that you unscrew and replace? I may just leave it because there is no play in the bolt and it's still on there reasonably tight. I'll just have to check for oil in the spark plug well.
WHY DOES HONDA USE THESE WEAKASS BOLTS!!!!
I never had any problems with the valve cover bolts stripping while using the torque wrench.. weird
most of them clicked, just one of em broke?
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I never had any problems with the valve cover bolts stripping while using the torque wrench.. weird
most of them clicked, just one of em broke?
Yep, it was just the one in the center of the valve cover. The rest of them torqued up fine and the wrench clicked. I hand tightened them all as far as I could also so I know for sure that I didn't cross thread them either.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that I just spend $90 on a torque wrench to make sure that this kind of thing didn't happen. I might as well have just guessed and winged it with a regular socket wrench.
Maybe because the head is aluminum, Honda has to use some soft ass alloys for some reason. I want some damn hardened steel bolts on there!
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97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.
Generally digital torque wrenches and clickers are not good for anything below 20 lbs as if you get anything above 12 lb/ft you start stripping these bolts. You really need a second torque wrench that's calibrated 0-30 lb/ft and one that's good for 0-80 lb/ft. It's actually GOOD that the bolt broke, instead of you stripping out the head isn't it?
Honda parts are actually pretty damn good overall. If you buy the correct tools (and I'm sorry about your torque wrench being off) then you won't have a problem. Honda parts have been probably one of the best that I've worked with.
I hear ya dude. The exact same thing happened to me recently and I was replacing the exact same part. I made a post about it and got some good replies and some that thought it was all my fault.
It was a real pain in the ass to get off and replace. I was hoping that the bolt would be ok and I would be able to replace just the cap but the bolt was jacked too. Luckily I purchased one of the bolts just incase. If I were to do it again I would have just cut the bolt with a dremel and saved myself about 30 min. Anyway, there are two different size bolts and I'm not sure which one the center one is. They are part 9 and 10 in the picture from my thread. The bolt is threaded on both sides and I needed a deep socket to remove it, 10mm IIRC. It isn't that difficult as long as you can get the damaged part off. Good luck.
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i have to agree with timeracer on his comment that the wrench is useless for such a low capacity
if u take a 1/4th socket and do it snug ull be fine
dont use a 3/8th socket otherwise the length will give u more torque
if i remmeber right the 1/4th can pretty much go up to 16-22 lbs while the 3/8th can hit like 50 if tightened all by hand
i believe that honda has to use a softer metal for the bolts because it has to contract and expand as easily as the head so they cant use some steel bolts
I actually have two torque wrenches. I have my big trusty one that I use for lug nuts, suspension, and brakes and my brand new one which I am reserving strictly for precision work because it has 1/4 lbs increments and a low range (5-75 lbs).
All torque wrenches have an error rate of around 4 % so you are looking at a maximum of 12lbs that I could have put on the bolt. That's far less than the maximum I could have resonably put if I had used my little 1/4" socket wrench.
Verdict--ain't nothing wrong with da torque wrench or technique--it's the sh!tty ass soft metal alloy used by Honda. I never had stripped bolts like this on my old 280z. My old Civic and now my Prelude give me all kinds of trouble like that.
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97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.
Originally posted by Dotay I hear ya dude. The exact same thing happened to me recently and I was replacing the exact same part. I made a post about it and got some good replies and some that thought it was all my fault.
It was a real pain in the ass to get off and replace. I was hoping that the bolt would be ok and I would be able to replace just the cap but the bolt was jacked too. Luckily I purchased one of the bolts just incase. If I were to do it again I would have just cut the bolt with a dremel and saved myself about 30 min. Anyway, there are two different size bolts and I'm not sure which one the center one is. They are part 9 and 10 in the picture from my thread. The bolt is threaded on both sides and I needed a deep socket to remove it, 10mm IIRC. It isn't that difficult as long as you can get the damaged part off. Good luck.
This will be a very useful thread. I'm going to hope that it stays sealed because it's on there pretty good still. The next time I remove my valve cover I will replace the stud. It doesn't look that hard to replace. I hope the nut will come off. If not, I plan to take a big ass pair of vice grips and rip that mother off of there.
I'm ordering the parts now. BTW, #9 is the center stud because it is shorter, #10 is the perimeter stud because it is longer.
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97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.
Last edited by fmshaw1971; 03-16-2004 at 11:42 PM.
It's a price that you pay for fine thread in an aluminum head. Go courser you have to switch to a expensive Al bolt to expand with the head. Honda chose to just go small and soft and you should take the torque wrench to a snap-on truck and see if he'll calibrate it for you and see what 8lbs on it really is.
Yeah, the bolts are weak because it's an aluminum head . . . . it's designed to be weaker than the part it's attached to - I'd rather the bolt strip than it trashing the head.
I've stripped them using a torque wrench as well, no matter how careful I was. Now I use my dinky 1/4" driver & just tighten it snug - no problems since I started doing that.
Not too tough to replace, just dremel off the nut so you can pull the valve-cover again, and then get a deep socket to unscrew the stud. Replacement costs about $5, and then another couple bucks for the nut, iirc.
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This will be a very useful thread. I'm going to hope that it stays sealed because it's on there pretty good still. The next time I remove my valve cover I will replace the stud. It doesn't look that hard to replace. I hope the nut will come off. If not, I plan to take a big ass pair of vice grips and rip that mother off of there.
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