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RE: [ST] WTF was I THINKING?



Learned the hard way myself.  These bolts do not need to be torqued, just
snugged lightly and evenly by hand.  In my case, I think it was the
ham-fisted mechanic who did my valves for the first three years, but it
stripped out the first time I did them myself.  The one that stripped on me
was the long bolt on the right rear of the cover.  A bit of blue locktite
and it held leakfree for the next 12,000 miles when I took the cam cap off
and had a heli coil installed.  Be aware, though that if you break the cam
cap, you will be installing a new head.  The cam caps are machined to the
head and fit the cam that is there.  Also, pay attention to how it comes off
as it has to go back on in the same orientation.  A scratch mark is
sufficient as the ink from a marker will wash off when you clean the cap
after machining it.

Dan Wallander
www.danwallander.com
Albuquerque, NM
'99 Triumph Sprint ST
'74 BMW R90/6

Forigve me if this is common knowlege, but I wanted to share before
someone else came to no good.   I checked my valve clearances the other
day and when I replaced the valve cover I trusted my workshop manual
instead of my 15 years experience and stipped one of the cover bolts.
The manual spec is 15Nm for the short bolts and 25Nm for the long bolts
(over the cam chain).  I did them all to 15Nm and little voices started
in the back of my head (and I KNOW I had my medication!).  I changed the
torque wrench to 25Nm for the two last bolts and it just didn't feel
right.  I undid them all and strated over.  The second time one of the
long bolts stripped at about 17Nm.  DAMN!
After retreiving my torque wrench from the hole in the garge wall it was
embeded in, I sat down and realized it was not as tragic as I initially
thought.  I won't have to remove the head, just the cam cap, to get it
timserted.  But be forwarned. DON'T USE THE FACTORY SPECS!
What really pisses me off is that I knew better.  The 8mm VC bolts on my
BMW head only get 10Nm.  My Chilton generic manual says 5.9-7.8Nm is
typical for a 6mm bolts.   A call to my dealer service dept, confirms
they never even torque them.  I don't know for certain if this was cause
by my ham-fistedness or it was a cumulative effect of previous over
tightenings (I've had some pretty spotty maintenance done by dealers who
shall reamain anonymous,  NOT the one know and trust) but the result is
the same.  I'm Sprintless until I can get it fixed. It's going to be
7.5Nm for me from now on, unless it leaks, then we'll see.

David
'99ST





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