Technical Cam cover bolt torque setting

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Technical Cam cover bolt torque setting

si894

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Hi all,

Can anyone tell the correct torque settings for the cam cover bolts on 999cc fire please.

Thanks in advance.

Si.
 
It's not quite the same setup but remember using the torque wrench on a Mini A series rocker cover. I could see the metal deforming and the wrench (good quality Norbar) had still not clicked. After that good old "tight enough" feel did the job fine and I never had any oil leaks.
(at least not from the rocker cover)
 
It's not quite the same setup but remember using the torque wrench on a Mini A series rocker cover. I could see the metal deforming and the wrench (good quality Norbar) had still not clicked. After that good old "tight enough" feel did the job fine and I never had any oil leaks.
(at least not from the rocker cover)
Engines of this era pretty much all used cork gaskets. They really only needed a "nip" up. If you tightened them more than you should the pressed steel rocker cover would distort and you'd never get a seal. (as mentioned by both PB and Dave) I can remember really well "panel bashing" BMC "A" series covers back into shape and for Ford Kent and Pinto, which were held round the edges with small screws/set screws, I had a home made shaped punch which fitted the profile of the edge of the cover and was held in the vice whilst you tapped the flange back into something resembling flat. Then came rubberized/rubber gaskets and I noticed that most of the alloy covers then started featuring "stops" which limit how tightly the cover can pinch the gasket. It wasn't that long ago I had the covers off both our Panda and my boy's Punto and they are both like that (aren't they) - I seem to remember dear old Felicity (1999 Panda Parade) was the same? I just do up the fixing bolts until the cover goes "tight" (that is 'till the limiting blocks touch the head) I don't use my wee 1/4 drive torque wrench, just nip them up with a wee socket. never had a problem. I like to put some liquid gasket on the corners, as recommended in the Haynes Manual and if it's a really old steel cover that's maybe a bit the worse for wear I will put a little smear of liquid gasket all the way round "just to be sure"

You made me smile Dave, by saying you never had any oil leaks (at least not from the rocker cover) Pretty much all BMC FWD stuff - Mini, 1100/1300, Maxi, 1800, etc, etc, had the gear selector rod exiting from the bottom rear of the box, as all you older guys will remember. These vehicles ran the engine and box on the same oil so the oil got really nice and hot and the stress of the engine and shearing action of the gears would conspire to destroy the polymers in the oil quite quickly ensuring that, after a few thousand miles, the oil had roughly the consistency of water (when hot) this, of course, easily found it's way out past the single (admittedly double lipped) seal around this selector rod and within a few months, well maybe a year, of the customer buying the vehicle it would leak. I used to amuse myself looking at peoples driveways from the top of the bus because you could pretty much be sure which houses owned a BL product from the black oil stain right in middle of the driveway! We discovered that if you tap the first one well into the housing, you can actually get two of these seals, one behind the other, into the casing. It was standard practice in our workshop to always fit two. In later years, after doing many many of these seals it dawned on me that they start leaking when the bush, which is directly machined into the casing so can't be renewed, wears. This results in a little bit of sideways "slop" on the selector and the oil then leaks out. I think putting the two seals in helped to keep the shaft from slopping about so much and this, more than the fact the seal was new, helped to stop (well, reduce maybe) the oil creeping past the rod.

PS. Just another example of brilliant BMC thinking - put a hole in the bottom of a box which you then fill with oil and practice looking surprised when it leaks! Such a shame 'cos I have a very soft spot for all the old BMC/BL stuff.
 
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I remember that two seals was actually the factory recommended service fix for warranty complaints. Then they made a short bellows to go between the rod coupling and the box, to keep the grit out, but after a few months they'd lose their flex and be shorter than the gap. Again, two bellows seemed to work.

Through the sixties and seventies, Peugeot used to leave engine bays in primer, saving the cost of body colour paint. Theory was, oil leaks prevented rust.
 
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