Connecting Rod Nuts - Torque Method

[Porsche_monkey]

Connecting rod nuts are torqued to 20 Nm then 90 deg +/- 2 deg.

Does everyone do the 90 degree by eye, or is there some trick I am unaware of?

[Tim Walsh]

With dtw's rebuild we just did it by eye using the wrench but I'll bet someone's done it more accurately

[ChrisBennet]

I do it by eye for the 90 degree case.
-Chris

[kstylianos]

Set the wrench parallel to the crank. 90 degrees is pretty easy to eyeball when the wrench is perpendicular.

[69 911s]

Actually there is a torque angle gauge available from Snap-On for those of us with severe anal problems...

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by 69 911s
Actually there is a torque angle gauge available from Snap-On for those of us with severe anal problems...

Torque angle guages are available at Pep Boys also. (I have a nice German one.) It's just they are a pain to use on rod nuts.
-Chris

[Porsche_monkey]

I am not trying to be too anal here, I just want to make sure I'm putting the same load on both bolts, if everyone else does it by eye, and it appears they do, then thats good enough for me.

[kstylianos]

also see:

What do the experts use to measure torque angles?

[Porsche_monkey]

Yes, that link is somewhat similar isn't it.

[snowman]

I don't think its being anal. The only way to be right on is to use the torque angle guage, and its only $5 or $10 bucks.

In the case of 90 degrees many of us think that we can judge the angle accurately enough to dispense with the guage, probably rightly so. BUT if one has any reservations, for any reason, it IS prudent to do it right, ie use a guage.

[stevef]

I did mine by eye recently on my 2.2. However I knew it was taking one on Wayne shortcuts he mentioned in a previous thread because I don't have a tool to measure 90 degrees +/- 2 degrees other than a square. Can you sight 2 degrees?

[ChrisBennet]

I question how anal you need to be for this. Torque is a fairly imprecise measurement. There are lots of sources for error. I wonder if using a (notoriously inaccurate) clicker type torque wrench or the wrong lube on the threads might introduce more error than being a few degrees off?
-Chris

[Porsche_monkey]

My only concerns were a) the +/- 2 degree spec which I can not meet by eye, if the spec was +/- 5 deg, then I would ahve no concern and b) at least with an impropperly calibrated torque wrench you put the same torque on each bolt, in a lot of cases (ie con rod bolts) this is more important than the actual torque value.

Regardless, I just did mine by eye with a helper and I'm moving on...

[snowman]

Good move.

Many things are not as precise as some would like to beleive.