Acorn nuts will destroy your engine

Goat Herder said:

When I did say old Ford F150 type water pumps There was always a couple of bolts that would be rusted quit a bit. I could never put them back in rusty per say as I would not get a proper torque reading from the bolt when putting it back in. So I would go to the wire wheel at the bench grinder and buff the threads clean.

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You just reminded me of that long skinny bolt on Pontiac engines that went from the timing cover to the intake manifold. They would break if you stared too hard at it!

Guess it depends on the type brand locktite? Because I have some stuff here that if it was allowed to set over night my torque reading would be like those rusty threads? Is what I am trying to say.

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Oops, should've written what was in my head....when it comes to building a Harley engine I use red loctite on the cylinder studs (after douching the threads with acetone and blowing them dry) and torque them. Then the cylinders and heads go on but won't I don't torque the head bolts (actually they're nuts) until the next day. The threads on the bolts (nuts) get a drop of oil.

The reason for doing it this way is because the studs get only 10lbs of torque into the case while the nuts get 32lbs. The thing to keep in mind is that fasteners don't hold things together because you have X pounds of twisting force but because of the STRETCH you induce when tightening them. This is CLAMPING force and is calculated by the materials involved along with the thermal cycling and forces that are expected in the application.

Must lay down now, brain overheating....need to use some brown loctite made by Jack Daniels.

Haha, I learned about that fuel pump bolt when I just started out as a gas pump monkey, er, petroleum transfer engineer. Customer comes in with an oil leak, I poke around and found it coming out of that hole....figuring it might be a cracked passage I decided to probe it with a piece of wire first....discovered that it went into an open void (not much unlike my head).

Determined that the threads stopped shortly I chose a bolt of that approx length, lucky for me I did as I didn't know that I could've run into the fuel pump pushrod! An old timer told me I totally lucked out and I told him that's an insult as I took the time to futz around rather than jam the first bolt I found. He still walks with a limp to this day. LOL

uniblab said:

Oops, should've written what was in my head....when it comes to building a Harley engine I use red loctite on the cylinder studs (after douching the threads with acetone and blowing them dry) and torque them. Then the cylinders and heads go on but won't I don't torque the head bolts (actually they're nuts) until the next day. The threads on the bolts (nuts) get a drop of oil.

The reason for doing it this way is because the studs get only 10lbs of torque into the case while the nuts get 32lbs. The thing to keep in mind is that fasteners don't hold things together because you have X pounds of twisting force but because of the STRETCH you induce when tightening them. This is CLAMPING force and is calculated by the materials involved along with the thermal cycling and forces that are expected in the application.

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That is how I set up the studs to the jug on the China H.T. two smokes when I used them for a few. Except the darn rattling kit exhaust would still loosen my head bolt nuts over time. Think Tuning fork resonance? I used star washers there for awhile and it was OK. Hanging my exhaust pipe as a addition to structure support rather than let it hum and rattle fixed things up much better in the long run.

These kits are what a fellow makes of them. lol

Been working in a small power equipment garage for a while now. generators to Atv's Motorcycle Road bikes. Lawn mowers, weed whackers. etc you name it. The stories I can tell about now

I know what you mean it's not a automobile where things just simply fit for the most part. Some of this stuff can be interesting. Can't just slap all them together and I so want to! One word for Chinese Scooters as of my last couple of days.

How does a fellow make money on disposable equipment these days? This has been a gray area for me lately as a new be in this shop.

An unsupported exhaust will make all manner of things come loose as it'll vibrate like some fat bastage (me) jumping up and down on the free end of a diving board.

Speaking of disposables, I'm looking for partners to go in on pet project of mine, recycled toilet paper. I suspect that the Feds will be needing it very soon to print up some more worthless dollars!!

300-400 miles on my bike with acorn nuts and the regular exhaust unsupported. I have had 0 issues. It helps that I put loctite on everything though. And torqued all the acorn nuts to I think 96 inch pounds.