> Years ago a friend of mine claimed he put Loctite on all of the bolts
> while assembling the engine in the car he raced, even the bearing cap
> and connecting rod bolts. Have any of you do this? Does this seem like a
> good idea? I've never tried it myself.
>When I replaced the bottom end bearings on my TR last summer, I was talking to
>Ken Gillanders of British Frame and Engine. He sold me the bearings, and I told
>him I also needed some lock tabs. He said "Hmm, I think I've got some here, but
>I never use them, I just use Loctite. Then there's <mumble--I don't remember
>the name> who uses both, but he's always been a sort of belt-and-suspenders
>kind of guy."
>
>I used the locktabs, since I'd paid for them, but next time I'll trust Ken and
>just use Loctite. The trick is apparently to get both of the parts Very Clean.
Well, this is my opinion, but I wouldn't use Loctite everywhere on a
race engine, know that I'd be tearing it down the following winter
anyway. It seems some people go overboard on their use of certain
chemical goos in engine rebuilding. The case that comes to mind is
whoever is was that used a silicone gasket sealer on the oil pump
gasket in the core engine I rebuilt last year. If your oil pump
isn't perfectly sealed, it's going to leak ... into the pan. BFD. I
spent the better part of an afternoon picking little orange pieces of
silicone out of oil passages throughout the engine.
It seems to me that using locktite on main and rod bearing caps might
give false torque wrench readings during reassembly. I'd use the
locktabs, or just centerpunch the heads of the bolts.
I think a lot of the various goos used in engine reassembly are nice,
but don't figure that just because it solves one problem, it's great
stuff and should be used everywhere.
andy
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