engine assembly questions....help!

[jammy]

Hey guys, just in the middle of a timing chain and balancer job and had a couple general questions:

1. When assembling an engine, should you use locktite on bolts? In general, but for my timing job, what about the cam gear bolts, timing cover bolts and crank pulley bolts? I noticed a lot of the torque specs are low and am worried some might loosen.

2. When you have gaskets (the blue felpro material king or the cardboard kind) can they go on dry or do you have to use a sealant with them as well? Specifically for the timing job, the timing cover gasket and water pump gasket. For other things like thermostat I sometimes use Permatex Aviation Sealant (Form-a-gasket).....will this work or do you have to use an RTV?

any help would be greatly appreciated,
eddie

[bu-bye]

1. Put Locktite on every bolt. Some may not need it but its better safe then sorry.

2. A sealant is not really need for gaskets on a NA engine with low compresion like ours. If you had a super charger or turbo then you want to put sealant on the gasket. BUT....again its better to be safe then sorry. Its not really needed but if you have the time and know how to do it, what the hell. ;)

[UsMuScL398]

DEFF PUT SEALENT ON GASKET ON WATER PUMP i didnt and it leaked after a few races....street too....my advice deff put on, worth the pain if it blows

[saved1]

I always use rtv on my gaskets. Locktite is not necessary. (30 years of working on cars)

[jammy]

thanks for the replies guys (forgot to mention it is the 2.8). I will definitely put the sealant on then.

As for the loctite, it may be a problem anyway cuz of the oil in the threads in the block. I would assume that would have to be cleaned out for the loctite to work? If I used it, would the blue loctite be fine?

What about slapping some lock washers on the cam gear bolts? Just thought of that now....that would be fine, wouldn't it?

[saved1]

Yes, the lock washers are what keep the bolts tight. Clean the oil off of the threads, and you can apply a LITTLE bit of rtv on the threads, which will help in sealing and keeping the bolts tight. [img]smile.gif[/img]