It's a phrase. The reason why I say "theoretically" is because I know of people who have had success heating in other places, in addition to the inside of the spigot bore. I personally recommend heating on the inside of the spigots, as this seems to have the most success with the most people.

-Wayne

Doug, how does the lasagna turn out? Meat or cheese? When we are not using the oven for engines, we cook lasagna in it as well, amongst other dishes. Thanks for the levity.

Would you like to trade recipes.

Normalizing (heating above the transformation temperature in the iron-carbide diagram and then air cooling) is for grain refinement and stress relief without excessive softening in iron-based alloys. It is not the same as annealing; it does not apply to aluminum or magnesium alloys. Cheers, Jim

you are absolutley right, I never told you we were taking it that high. But thank you for the clarification.

?

I agree with garibaldi, heating the entire case to over 400 degrees F would weaken the loc tite and would not warp or weaken the spigot area of the case.
Unfortunately that isn't practical for most people and using a torch is.
If done wrong it could damage the case. If done right I seriously doubt it would do any damage because the aluminium transfers the heat so well a rather large area will be heated evenly by the time the desired temperature is reached.

It indeed has been done many, many, many times with no observed consequences that I know of.

-Wayne

I have a related but different question...
I am not splitting the case - I am trying to limit my job to a top end job.
If I attempt to remove the head studs and one is stuck (i.e. a snap-on stud remover failed), do I have any choice other than to split the case & use heat to remove the stud?

thanks...

Just a word of caution with using an acetelyne torch: don't let the little blue inner flame touch the aluminum. Maybe this is common sense, but I learned the hardway, luckily I realized quickly so not much damage was done. I've had the best luck heating on the ID of the cylinder spigot and then melting bees wax on the threads to penetrate into the case threads.

As for Loctite, I work in a large rotating machinery machine shop and common industry pratice is to heat a Loctited part in an oven or with resistance heating blankets up to the recommended release temperature and then separate it. I use a torch at home.

Tell me more - I've never heard of this...

-Wayne

Bees wax?? Does it help break down or dilute the loctite? or just as a lubricant??

The bees wax is just a lubricant, the machinists in the shop where I work use it to loosen bolts after heating.

Hey guys!
I'm new here!
I can say that I've been to Garibaldi's shop, have seen the quality of his work, and know who has trained him. He has access to ultra unique tools, and is privvy to knowledge which many don't even know exist...

Oh and the PCA seems to think he knows what he's talking about...:)

Cheers,

Greg