torque

sorry this is prob in the wrong section,but is it absolutly nessecery to toque the nuts when doing a clutch change.i want to crack on with getting my project finished but dont have a torque wrench

Most things on the engine are torque set.  It is essential for a lot of things as it's clearance and pressure on key parts… so they have to be correct.  I bought 2 torque wrnches for ?20 from a local shop and they seem to do the job.

to my rescue again spud............gonna get my mate to take me around a couple of shops,there is one on ebay in bedford but he hasnt messaged back,halfords want ?50 that i aint got,ill see what bargains i can find,cheers mate

No worries… shop about mate go to local car parts places… ?50 is a bit steep but it's probably a great one… to me though I don't need fancy digital readings… if it works…. it works  :wink:

Good luck with the hunt bud

by the way… to stop frustration… get one that can go as low as 7lbf ft up to 70lbf ft or so… be aware also that the end that goes into the sockets may also not fit the sockets you have (different sizes sometimes) so you may want to buy some steppers (smaller to bigger and visa versa) does that make sence?

You'll probably need 2 torque wrenches, a lot of the stuff which needs torqued accurately is in the 'low' range and will need a smaller, 3/8" wrench. And then there's a couple which are high torque values so the 1/2 will be used. So its worth knowing what you're tightening and checking the upper range of the 3/8 and the lower range of the 1/2

Halford professional ones have recently won "best buy" awards in Car Mechanics magazine.

yes mate,i might take one of my sockets with me just to check(because im thick ha ha)another stupid question.........when i do head gasket its just a case of taking head off,replacing gasket and putting head on and tightning to the settings you gave me,how do i sort timing out after?(should i start this again in big block section?)

You kinda need the Haynes manual, for torque values if nothing else!

Head gasket - you make it sound simple but there's other stuff attached to the head, not least the inlet and exhaust manifold, which need to be removed. I assume you're happy with this with the engine in the car?

You'd place the engine at TDC and mark it up BEFORE you removed the cam belt. On some engines its easier to cable tie the belt to the cam gear and remove this (there will be a woodruff key to align gear to cam) but on the EA827 its not worth the hassle to do this, since the belt tensioner and covers are easy enough to remove.

the engine is out the car,i am swapping the inlet manifold for one i cleaned,and have to put outlet mani on,its a replacement engine with reconditioned head,so taking off should be easy(proberly not)i had a mechanic mate who was suppose to be doing it but is messing me about,so thought i would crack on myself,but have no haynes or torque wrench,am i best off waiting till i get these

suprisingly Agros do a good one and its pretty cheap if i recall…. (as im writting ive decided to look for it)

http://www.argos.co.uk…CCar+tools%7C12107506.htm

its a pretty good one, I use mine all the time!!! Had it years and never had a problem with it

What's the reason for taking the head off if its recently reconditioned? Depending on the work, there's no reason why you can't crack on and remove it and get the head sent off for checking/skimming.

didnt think to check argos,cheers mate


heres the storey,are you sitting comfortably ha ha……………………….
i bought my mk1 with head gasket already knackered,i bought from nottingham and drove back to milton keynes,bought a replacement engine off friend but was mk2 digi,so found one a new replacement on ebay with reconditioned head,got home and there was milky looking stuff around cap(only slight,no where near as bad as first engine)i spoke to the seller who informed me he took it out for a 16v converion and there was no overheating.as the engine is still not in car i thought it would be idea to change gasket,head was reconditioned in march 07 by bigboystoys and apparantly only done 1000,if no overheating the head should be ok(shouldnt it)i am a complete novice when it comes to cars so expect silly questions

In that case I'd leave well alone - its not worth the hassle of changing the head gasket on a hunch it "might" be blown. If it is, then you'll probably also find that the head is warped/cracked so you'd need to at least get it checked over properly. Since the head is already reconditioned, then its not like you're taking it off to do the valve stem seals, etc so its not worth the hassle.

if i leave it alone,and the head gasket is gone wont it be more hassle to take it out again,was just thinking while its out might be worth doing...............................could the creamy stuff just be condensation

This rings some bells - the head gasket can be checked with a leakdown test.

the engine has to be in the car and running though doesnt it?i just wanted to try and do it just incase

ps forgot to say thanks to all that have shared there knowledge