of the week award goes to the dealer tech who must have lost one of the radiator retaining bolts at the last engine replacement, and thought that he'd make a new one:



Nut was tight all along the thread.

 

Hi mike
You taken your rad out? have you done your tower upgrade yet or is this part of it.
scotty

 

Hi Scotty,
My mistake - It was actually one of the fan housing retaining bolts. There's no need to remove the radiator to do the front plumbing.

The bolts slide into slots on the radiator side caps, and the square head is meant to stop them turning when spinning the nut on or off. It's a better idea in theory than it is in practice as the slots are plastic mouldings and even the proper bolts are prone to spinning if they're at all rusty.
Fortunately I got enough of a grip on the 'home-made' one to get the nut off.

It's turning into an epic as I put capscrews at the rear of the thermostat tower when I did the valley hoses two or three years back, and I can't get the *&*($^ things out. So, inlet has to come off

Guess I just needed to vent...

Mike

P.S. Did your bypass hose turn up the correct length this time?

 

Hi Mike
Bypass hose being delivered tomorrow mate as its bank holiday here again so I hope it will be correct this time.so why you removing your rad?
scotty

 

I'm not planning on removing the radiator:- I wanted the fans out as I couldn't see any easy way to get to the lower hose clip without doing so, and it gives more room to work on the front of the motor. I just removed the top retainer for the rad as I need to tilt it rearward to get to the A/C condenser fixings.

Those capscrews were a bad move. I always torque bolts, particularly when they're going into aluminium, but they don't want to come loose. At least with the originals there's something to grip on the head.

Should have been in and out in a weekend...

Mike

 

Mike,
I've got my remaining parts on order for front plumbing upgrade and I was planning to substitute capscrews. Is it an access problem preventing you getting them out or are they so tight you've rounded the hex hole?
Also, is there a way to torque those rear tower bolts without removing the inlet to get a socket on?

 

I just put my old bolts back in, a little fiddly but not too bad with bent spanner

 

Hi pbuck,
Partly self-inflicted as the capscrews I used weren't hardened, but TBH there was no way I could get a good enough angle on the LHS rear because there just wasn't enough clearance from the intake. Something I didn't check properly last time in. Of course, being capscrews, I couldn't get a grip with a 'Mole' locking wrench on a round head either. Live and learn.

With the intake off, they came out easily with a 1/4 drive and 6" T-bar, so they weren't over-tight.

I've substituted two of the shorter bolts that hold the thermostat cover for the capscrews, and just torqued down to 8Nm instead of 12. With the new ali tower I shouldn't need to go back in there for a long time, and at least I've got a hex head to work with if I do

With hindsight, I would have re-used the orginal bolts as Scotty has done, although others have been successful with capscrews.

How to torque with the inlet in the way? I'm not sure. With a spanner you can't, and a ball-head hex at an angle is not going to be entirely accurate, although I'd guess it will read high. I would say that just a good nip is sufficient; the seal is gained by compression of the O ring, which you've got once the two mating faces meet. The bolts only need to be tight enough that they don't come loose.

If you do use capscrews, make sure that the heads aren't soft metal...

My

Mike

 

i bought a Craftsman 8mm wrench (ring spanner). What's the best way to bend it without breaking it. Approx how far from the ring should the bend be. Thanks.

 

I heated it up with a blow torch with the open end in a vice and just bent it over slowly whilst keeping it hot,as you can see I bolted another spanner via the rings then I could place a bar in the other open end for a bit of extra force