Since you already ordered the chains I would say good luck
Get front crank seal too and all the gaskets and medium thread locker

 

Silverjag, I have all the seals and gaskets, some new bolts and fittings such as the split collet damper retainer. I plan on using green, high strength loctite for mounting that and blue on the cam and coil cover bolts due to the tendency of the brass inserts to come loose on removal. Incidently, I like JB Weld steel reinforced epoxy for repairing them; it's also what I've used for repairing the breather baffles in the cam covers. I have three cars with 4.0 V8's and all came with two or three cam or coil cover bolts broken or stripped and the baffles loose. After thoroughly cleaning and epoxying, I've added small fillets of steel epoxy to reinforce them; it's good to 550⁰F. I'll probably use red loctite on most of the other bolts except, perhaps, the pivot bolts for the tensioner guides, since these have a weak spot between the top of the thread and the pivot dowel section and are a real bear to remove if broken, due to their position. It's also difficult to heat them enough to soften the loctite in the tight quarters.. I used a butane micro torch, and the right bank bolt broke very easily. Perhaps it had been over torqued when installed. Any thoughts on my choices would be appreciated. Thanx. Rick.

 

The workshop JTIS process (attached) does not call for any locking compound on any of the cam or coil cover bolts.

The ferrules strip out because (other than not being the best engineering idea in the world) they are either overtightened or have seized to the bolt. Coil cover bolts are torqued 4-6 Nm which is little more than finger tight:- I would use a smear of copper grease or similar on them on reassembly.

 

You don't need to use loctite on cam cover bolts
use it only for the timing bolts guide and tensioners
Blue loctite works well for that
And don't overthink it my friend .

 

Many thanks, Michaelh and Silverjag0 for helping me decide on reassembly techniques. I guess it is because of my long experience with valve cover leaks and broken bolts that I assumed I should use loctite. Back in the days of cork gaskets, every leak repair seemed to involve broken bolt removal because someone had tried to deal with a leak by cranking the bolts another half turn with no torque wrench considered necessary. This car came with one broken cam cover bolt, two loose inserts on coil bolts, one cam cover bolt missing and two just sitting in, less than finger tight. Somebody wasn't present that day. Best, Rick.

 

The cam cover bolts only need to be nipped up (9-11 Nm). Further tightening in an attempt to stop a leak doesn't increase pressure on the cover gasket, since the cover isolators don't compress, so the bolt just strips or shears.

It is the isolator washers that provide the clamping force on the cover (and hence the gasket), which is why it's a must-do to replace all 28 of them as part of the job.

Make sure that the two 'special' bolts (the only ones not captive in their isolators) are fitted back to the rear uppermost position on each cam cover.

 

So, I wasn't as fussy as I thought—never thought of replacing them. I considered replacing the bolts with stainless per Damian Modural, because they were dirty and rusted, but gave up and painted them when I couldn't see a way to separate them without damage. I have all the rubber seals for the bolts—guess I'd better get the bolts ordered, as the bolts apparently come with isolators attached to them, my guides are in Milwaukee, so I'll get them tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanx for the heads up, Rick.

 

Rick, my bad - it helps to get the part names correct: Isolator == the seal (6), and Mounting Spacer = the 'bobbin' (8) on each cam cover bolt. Pic. from the JEPC:




I wouldn't change any of the cam cover bolts unless they were damaged: just the rubber seals, which you already have.

 

Thanx again Michaelh. You saved me a hundred bucks. Nomenclature is often a problem when ordering auto parts. I just bought a new laptop to replace one that had all my bulletins and manuals on it. I was having surgery(ascending aorta replacement)and it disappeared along with a stack of Mozart piano CD's somewhere between surgery prep and ICU. I guess someone thought I wasn't going to need them anymore. As soon as I slip "junior" status, I'll recover them. Best, Rick

 

A BIG thanks to all who advised and commented on my struggle with tensioner and guide replacement. After a long delay due to bitter winter weather during December and January (wind chills as low as –51⁰F) I finished up just a couple weeks ago.

Still some detailing to do in the front.

I checked it out at idle in the garage with a stethoscope after replacing the newly painted oil pan. Then after getting the hood/bonnet back on, we got a fresh twelve inches of snow.
After the roads were cleared and dried out by a February thaw and some welcome sunshine, I was able to test it on the road this past week with a few drives of 10 to 50 miles. With temps expected to be in the 40's and 50's (F) the rest of the week, I'll take Kathy shopping for her birthday—about a 150 mile round trip.

Thanx again, Rick