Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 11/02/09 at 13:03:46:
It's a new day off, time to hit the garage for a few hours of fun !!
Let's see, we had it open and it was time to clean it up, pull the plug and retorque the head. Then we will pull the cam for change out.
So, pop the plug out (mine came out quite easily with NO sealer on it whatsoever -- even Clymers says put sealer on it now-a-days. Suzuki still hasn't gotten the word yet.
Please, take some care not to damage your aluminum gasket surface !!
Now let's talk about re-torquing the head for a bit. There is a long term disagreement about the best way to do it, so read up a bit using search and make up your own mind as to which method is best.
Me, I unscrewed each fastener in turn, lubed the nut and the flat with neverseize and re-installed the nut and brought it back up to torque. Each pull up to 21-24 foot pounds was butter soft and easy, with no grabbing and jerking of the fastener whatsoever.
Theory is that the remaining 3 studs hold everything down tight and good while you service the one (1) nut that you just undid. I do not hold with taking them all four loose at the same time -- you will break seal on the head gasket, base gasket, etc. etc. if you take them all loose at the same time.
Yes, there is some stress taking one (1) loose, but less stress than taking all 4 loose by far.
YOU MUST LUBE OR OIL THE THREADS OR YOU DO NOT GET AN ACCURATE TORQUE READING AT ALL -- all you get is twisting of the stud and jerky erratic movements from the fastener rubbing on the copper washers.
Now you have everything pulled up evenly to the 24 max foot pounds, give it a half hour and go back round again. Hey, 20 was start of movement and it ramped back up to 24 within a quarter turn on each of the 4 studs. Well, stop and re torque the two upside down nuts under the head and the 2 at the base gasket for the jug, give it another half hour and check them again.
Same story, 20 to start and it ramps right back up to 24 within an eighth to a quarter of a turn. All you are doing after the first two re-torques is stretching the stud some more, so give it one more pull up and quit.
Time to clean the hole up with some brake cleaner for the new plug. Juice it up with some black gasket maker and push that new plug home with your thumb !!
Note the displaced gasket maker evenly distributed around the plug.
Optionally, Verslagen1 offers an Aluminum head plug with high temp o-rings.
Just lube the O-rings with a little oil and slip them in. No sealer required.
Now, let's talk about gasket maker stuff in general. First, the stuff is constantly evolving and improving, so old arguments you read about brand X vs brand y likely don't even apply any more. My castings are painted black, so I bought 500 degree rated high temperature black Permatex gasket maker -- this stuff does not require air dry time so you can bolt it right up after applying it.
(Hey, I told you the stuff is constantly getting better and better since the last time you bought some.)
You want your stuff to be able to be bolted up wet, as that is what you MUST do on the cover -- you do not want to have to let it dry for 15 minutes and make a stiff build up as that would jack your cam bearing clearance out through the roof and that is NOT a good thing. You want to be able to bolt it up wet and squish it out to almost nothing thickness and that is what the current version of Permatex Ultra Black Hi-Temp will allow you to do.
Next, Advanced Auto sells a half ounce tiny tube of the stuff for $2.29 -- unless you have enough planned to use a big tube up just buy a little tube. Big tubes, all I have ever seen is stiffened up big tubes that I toss away after a few years. Buy a little tube -- it is enough and the big tubes cost $8.95 more (and it will all be wasted anyway).
Dave wrote on 11/03/14 at 10:28:02:And when doing the case halves and cylinder head cover.....use the Suzuk/Yama or HondaBond products. There is also an aftermarket product called Threebond.....that I imagine is the same product without the brand name.
http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3177The generic RTV products seem to set up pretty fast for something as technical as installing the head cover. The Suzuki bond seemed to be a bit more "user friendly" and did not start to set up quickly. It also doesn't harden in the tube as JOG has mentioned. One tube goes a very long way and lasts a long time.
Periodically, put your thumb back on top of that new style rubber plug and check that it hasn't jacked itself up out of the hole. This has been reported by other list members as happening to them, so until your sealer sets up good keep a check that it doesn't happen to you.
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